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SCmencan ^tate^men 



ALEXANDER HAMILTON 



HENRY CABOT LODGE 




BOSTON 
HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN AND COMPANY 

New York: 11 East Seventeenth Street 

1898 



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A / 



24555 



Copyright, 1882, 
Bt henry CABOT LODGE. 



All rights reserved. 




The Riverside Press, Cambridge, Mass., U. S. A. 
Electrotyped and Printed by H. 0. Houghton & Company 



0^-/'?^^'/ 



CONTENTS. 



♦ 

CHAPTER I. 

PAGE 

Boyhood and Youth ....... 1 

CHAPTER II. 

The Revolution 13 

CHAPTER III. 
Law and Politics e . 32 

CHAPTER IV. 
The Constitution 50 

CHAPTER V. 
The Treasury and the Financial Policy . . 84 

CHAPTER VI. 

The Results of the Financial Policy . . . 117 

CHAPTER VII. 

Party Contests 136 

CHAPTER VIII. 

Foreign Relations and the Maintenance of the 
Authority of the Government . . . -153 



VI CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER IX. 

PAOB 

The Jay Treaty and the Adams Administration 188 

CHAPTER X. 
Professional Life. — Dctel and Death . . . 237 

APPENDIX 285 



ALEXANDER HAMILTOI?. 



CHAPTER I. 

BOYHOOD AND YOUTH. 

On the eleventh day of January in the yeai 
1757, the wife of a Scotch merchant in the isl- 
and of Nevis gave birth to a son, who received 
the name of Alexander Hamilton.^ Many vary- 
ing elements were mingled in this boy. He was 
a British subject born in the tropics, Scotch 
on his father's side and of French Huguenot 
descent on his mother's. To this conjunction 
many of the qualities which Hamilton exhib- 
ited in after life may be traced. But that which 
strikes us most at the outset is his extraordi- 
nary precocity; his mind and character seemed 
to partake of the nature of those luxuriant 
tropical plants which in a few months attain a 
growth permitted only after years of conflict 
and care in the harsher climate of the North. 
Upon the childhood of Hamilton even the ex 
haustive and devoted labors of his son and biog 
rapher, Mr. John C. Hamilton, fail to thro^ 

1 See Appendix, Note A. 



2 ALEXANDER HAMILTON. 

much light. His mother, who apparently po8« 
sessed an unusual degree of wit and beauty, 
died early. His father was unsuccessful in busi- 
ness, and Alexander, the only surviving child, 
fell to the care of maternal relations, among 
whom he picked up a rude, odd, and desultory 
Bort of education, and by whom he was placed 
in a counting-room before he was twelve years 
old. 

There at his clerkly desk we catch the first 
clear glimpse of the future statesman in the 
well-known letter addressed to his friend Ed- 
ward Stevens : " I contemn the grovelling con- 
dition of a clerk, or the like," he says, " to which 
my fortune condemns me, and would willingly 
risk my life though not my character, to exalt 
my station. I am confident, Ned, that ray youth 
excludes me from any hopes of immediate pre- 
ferment, nor do I desire it ; but I mean to pre- 
pare the way for futurity." The expression 
Bayers of the grandiloquence of the last cent- 
ury, but the thought is natural and even sober, 
and is moreover that of a man, and yet it was 
uttered by a boy who had not passed his thir- 
teenth birthday. At the same teniier age he 
was left in charge of his employer's affairs, 
and some of his correspondence of that time 
\ias been preserved to as. These clear and 
sensible letters of business have nothing in 



EARLY LIFE. 3 

khemselves unusual, but it is not a little re- 
markable that they should be the work of a 
lad whose contemporaries were studying the 
rudiments of grammar on school benches, while 
his capacity was great enough not only to write 
such letters but practically to manage on his 
own responsibility the concerns of a consider- 
able merchant. 

In the intervals of his oflBce work Hamilton 
read and wrote much ; Pope and Plutarch, we 
are told, were his favorite authors^ and to his 
exercises in composition was due the publica- 
tion of a vivid account of a severe hurricane 
which raged with devastating force in the West 
Indies. This literary effort attracted a good 
deal of attention, especially among those vague 
relatives to whom the boy's interests were in- 
trusted, and by them it was decided that so 
much talent deserved wider opportunities than 
could be found in a West Indian counting- 
nouse. Funds were provided, and in his fif* 
teenth year Hamilton bade a final adieu to his 
birthplace and took ship for Boston, where he 
arrived in October, 1772. Thence he proceeded 
to New York where, thanks to letters from the 
excellent Dr. Knox, a Presbyterian clergyman 
of Nevis, and one of the boy's earliest friends, 
be found wise and good counsellors. By theii 
advice he entered a grammar school of som€ 



4 ALEXANDER HAMILTON. 

note at Elizabethtown, where he extended hia 
acquaintance, and where during the winter he 
pursued his studies with the fiery and unrest- 
ing energy so characteristic of him throughout 
his life. At odd moments he indulged in his 
propensity for writing. He produced not only 
prose but poetry, including hymns, elegies, and 
verses of all sorts, which were not without the 
merit inseparable from the work of an active, 
fresh, and fertile mind. At the end of the year 
he was ready for college. His first thought was 
for Princeton, but, as he characteristically pro- 
posed to go through the course as rapidly as he 
could without regard to classes, the rules of the 
college would not permit his admittance, and he 
entered King's College in New York, where he 
prosecuted his studies with the aid of a private 
tutor as fast as he wished. In the university as 
at school he threw himself heart and soul into 
his work, gathering up knowledge with quick 
apprehension, while the tireless activity of his 
mind continually sent his thoughts ranging into 
other and wider fields of finance, government, 
and politics. It was then his custom of an after- 
noon, as we are told, to walk under the shadow of 
the trees on Batteau Street, plunged in thought 
and talking eagerly to himself. The passers-by 
would turn to look at the small, slight youth 
Etill a mere boy in appearance, dark of skii^ 



EARLY LIFE. 5 

and with deep-set eyes ; and those who knew the 
" young West Indian," as he was called, abeady 
speculated about him vaguely as people are 
wont to do about those who give or seem to give 
obvious promise of an illustrious future. But 
while Hamilton was leading the reflective life 
of a student, and meditating beneath the shadow 
of the trees, imbued perhaps with the "pro- 
phetic soul of the wide world, dreaming of 
things to come," a great revolution was swiftly 
coming to its crisis about him. 

Successful men are those who take advantage 
of their opportunities, for opportunities are not 
made by men but for them. Hamilton, we 
may be sure, would have taken full advantage 
of any and every opportunity, but he had the 
good fortune to have a great one opened to him. 
The question was which side in the gathering 
conflict he would espouse. It seemed perhaps 
more difficult to Hamilton to decide then than 
it does to us to decide for him now ; and yet 
his choice was simple and his selection inev- 
itable. He was singularly free in making his 
decision. He was born, it is true, in a little Eng- 
lish dependency and had always been a provin- 
cial, but he had no family in New York to warp 
or incumber him, his ties of friendship were 
new and probably as much with one side an 
the other, and he was to all intents and pur 



6 ALEXANDER HAMILTON. 

poses his own master. A, visit in the spring of 
1774 to Boston, the hot-bed of resistance to 
England and possessing an atmosphere very 
different from that of New York, where the 
Tories were in the ascendant, probably affected 
him not a little, and led him to a close examina- 
tion of the all-absorbing controversy. He him- 
self tells us that he had formed " strong preju- 
dices on the ministerial side until he became 
convinced by the superior force of the argu- 
ments in favor of the colonial claims." This 
explanation is exceedingly characteristic and 
highly instructive. His masterful temper and 
innate love and respect for government, order, 
and strong rule dictated his prejudices. His 
clear, vigorous mind, and his profound belief in 
reasoning and argument, which so prevailed with 
him always, showed him plainly that the Col- 
onies were in the right. But after every allow- 
ance for the conviction brought by reason, an 
instinctive sense of what must be the true path 
for him to follow undoubtedly played a large 
part in Hamilton's decision. He was young, 
unknown, an adventurer in a strange land, and 
burning with a lofty ambition. The world was 
before him, and his fortune, which he meant 
should be a great one, was to be made. Consti- 
tuted authority and a continuity of government 
offered at best but little to the most successfu) 



RESISTANCE TO ENGLAND. 7 

provincial. Change, revolution, and war might 
bring almost anything in the way of military 
or civic glory. He chose rightly, and he also 
chose wisely when he cast in his lot with the 
opponents of England. 

l^ew York was in possession of the Tories. 
The Assembly was ministerial, narrow-minded, 
and with a majority controlled by the home gov-, 
ernment. Upon this Assembly, in order to force 
New York into line with the other colonies now 
preparing for the first Congress, it was decided 
to bring what in these days would be called 
*' pressure." With this purpose a great meet- 
ing in the fields was held on July 6, 1774, un- 
der the auspices of the patriot leaders. Ham- 
ilton was present listening to the orators. Like 
the boy Pitt under the gallery of the House 
of Commons, Hamilton was impressed by what 
was left unsaid far more than by all the rhet- 
oric of the speakers. Filled with the belief 
that he could supply the omissions which he 
detected, he made his way to the platform and 
stood before the people. There were a few mo- 
ments of youthful embarrassment and hesita- 
tion, while the crowd stared at the audacious 
boy, and then nature asserted itself and hia 
words flowed unchecked. Hamilton was nevei 
eloquent in the sense in which Chatham or 
Mirabeau or Henry were eloquent, for he ha<J 



8 ALEXANDER HAMILTON. 

not the imaginative and poetical temperament. 
But he had the eloquence of sound reason and 
3lear logic, combined with great power and lu- 
cidity of expression, and backed by a strong and 
passionate nature. As he poured out with all 
his young fervor thoughts long pent up in his 
breast, we can well believe that the crowd, mur- 
muring "it is a collegian! it is a collegian!" 
were deeply stirred by the oratory of one who 
spoke so well, although he was a stranger and 
in appearance a mere boy. 

Once embarked, Hamilton was too honor- 
able, too high-minded, and too thoroughly sat- 
isfied of the soundness of his convictions ever 
to waver or turn back, and tempting offers from 
the other side at a later day, when his value and 
his powers were better known, passed idly by 
him. He was not only firm of purpose but 
having taken his part he pushed on in every 
direction open to him with his accustomed zeal. 
In those days public opinion was formed and 
the power of the press exerted through pam- 
phlets or by essays addressed to the printer, and 
published by him in his newspaper as com- 
munications. The ablest men of the country 
employed these channels to reach the publio 
mind, and great importance was attached to 
such productions. Two tracts of considerable 
force asoai^ing Congress and its measures, and 



WRITES AGAINST ENGLAND. 9 

jH'itten by two of the ablest writers on the 
Tory side, appeared in the autumn of 1774 
The effect of these pamphlets was severe tc 
fche patriots, and while they were casting about 
for a champion Hamilton answered the attack. 
The Tories replied, and Hamilton rejoined in a 
second pamphlet of some seventy-eight pages. 
Both these tracts, which showed marked ability, 
were variously attributed to the most eminent 
leaders, and when their authorship was known 
fche young writer gained a wide and immediate 
reputation. To argue points of constitutional 
law and of political justice and expediency was 
above all things congenial to Hamilton with 
his already well-stored mind, acute logic, and 
capacity for discussion. The pamphlets were 
excellent of their kind at a time when such per- 
formances were strictly judged, and, taken in 
connection with the youth of the author, de- 
served the great success which they obtained. 
They gave Hamilton an assured position and 
led to the rejected offers from the Tories to 
which allusion has just been made. 

The winter of 1775 passed away. New York 
was at last forced into the Congress, the battles 
came in Massachusetts, and revolution began 
Meanwhile Hamilton continued his arguments 
against England in vigorous newspaper essays, 
took part in public meetings, and devoted hi* 



10 ALEXANDER HAMILTON. 

kime to a study of military affairs, seeking also 
for practical experience by joining a volunteer 
corps commanded by Major Fleming. Besides 
showing nerve in the performance of some try- 
ing military duties which were becoming very 
necessary in those troublous times, Hamilton 
appeared prominently on several occasions in 
efforts to repress, by argument and by fearless 
personal exposure, outbreaks of mob-violence. 
The most memorable of these occasions was one 
which happened during the disturbances caused 
by the British ship of war Asia opening fire 
on the town. Persons and property had been 
injured, and there was wild commotion and an 
angry rising of the people in New York. The 
king's store-house was pillaged, the Connecticut 
troops were sent for, and Liberty Boys rushed 
through the streets threatening outrage and 
ruin to every Tory. Most prominent among 
the adherents of the Crown was Dr. Cooper, 
president of the college, and thither the angry 
mob hurried, bent on mischief of a desperate 
Bort. When they arrived they found Hamilton 
and his friend Troup on the steps of the build- 
ing ready to delay their entrance. The former 
at once stepped forward and began to reason 
vigorously with the crowd, and to denounce 
their disorderly conduct. While Hamilton was 
thus engaged, and while the populace halted to 
listen with amazement, no doubt, to the eage 



RESISTANCE TO MOBS. 11 

words of a youth whom they had last seen ex- 
posed to the fire of the Asia with other patri- 
ots occupied in removing cannon, the excellent 
Dr. Cooper fled, after warning the people from 
a high window not to be guided by such a mad- 
man as his former pupil who was then address- 
ing them. 

The doctor's mistake was natural enough. 
He could not believe that Hamilton, patriot and 
rebel, was resisting the people and restraining 
their violence for the sake of an old Tory cler- 
gyman. There is, indeed, something very sur- 
prising as well as very fine in the spectacle thus 
presented of a boy, whose blood was hot with 
the new strong wine of revolution, risking his 
life and what he loved probably much more, 
his influence and his popularity in behalf of 
law, order, and mercy. In a similar fashion he 
interfered to save the life of one Thurman from 
what was then known as " Travis's mob," and 
when the Connecticut horse broke into the 
town and carried off the types of Rivington, the 
Tory printer, Hamilton was filled with indig- 
nation at this violent suppression of opinion, 
and if he could have got a few men to go with 
\iim would have ridden after the marauders 
and recaptured the property. These instances 
of self-restraint and cool bravery are all very 
remarkable in so young and so enthusiastic a 
man as Hamilton. In the midst of revolution- 



12 ALEXANDER HAMILTON. 

ary excitement he did not hesitate to come for- 
ward to check his own party, to oppose and 
censure their excesses, to take the side of the 
unpopular minority in behalf of mercy, justice, 
order, free speech, and a free press. But 
whether he succeeded or failed in these at^ 
tempts they were creditable alike to his sense 
and courage ; and show strongly his early and 
deep detestation of anything like disorder, and 
above all his hatred of that most noxious of all 
forms of confusion, a riotous city rabble. 

But the time for preparation was closing fast. 
Early in 1776 the New York convention ordered 
a company of artillery to be raised. Hamilton 
applied for the command, and his examination 
quickly dispelled the doubts of his fitness in those 
who suspected mere youthful presumption. He 
recruited his company rapidly, and spent upon 
its equipment his second and last remittance 
from home. He had now burned his ships be- 
hind him. Youth, study, and the days of dream- 
ing and meditation were gone. He was a man 
striving for everything that an ambitious man 
can desire. He had already entered upon the 
stage of life at an age when most boys were 
Btill in school or college, and a very exciting 
and bustling drama he found in progress. He 
had youth, health, great talent, a strong will, 
eourage, ambition, and his sword. With thest 
weapons his fortune was to be made. 



CHAPTER II. 

THE REVOLUTION. 

The artillery company quickly showed the 
talent of its commander. Hamilton devoted 
himself to it as he did to everything he under- 
took, and by unceasing drill soon made its evo- 
lutions conspicuous in an army where discipline 
was novel and models were rare. The young 
captain, by the excellence of his troop, attracted 
the attention of Greene, who fell into conversa- 
tion with him, was impressed by his talent, and 
introduced him to Washington, thus putting 
him at this early day in the line of advance- 
ment. The kindness of the Rhode Island Gen- 
eral was never forgotten by Hamilton, who be- 
came one of Greene's strongest supporters and 
warmest admirers, afterwards declaring him to 
have been the first soldier of the Revolution. 
Hamilton, however, was soon tested by a se- 
verer experience than any which drill or pa- 
rade could offer. He won his spurs at the 
disastrous battle of Long Island, where with 
great coolness and couraga he brought up the 
rear in the masterly retreat which saved the 



14 ALEXANDER HAMILTON. 

army and gave tlie first conspicuous proof of 
that daring and sagacious genius for which 
Washington was as eminent in good as in evi, 
fortune. With the rest of the army Hamilton 
took part in the retreat up the Hudson, dis- 
tinguished himself by the admirable manner in 
which he served his battery at White Plains, 
and offered to recover by storm Fort Wash- 
ington, — a piece of reckless daring to which 
Washington refused his consent. From New 
York Hamilton went with the army in their 
terrible march through New Jersey, and shared 
in the brilliant campaign of Trenton and Prince- 
ton. By this time, after six months of hard 
fighting, his company was reduced to twenty- 
five men, who retained their old discipline but 
little else. Their commander had, however, 
made a name as a dashing and gallant oflB.cer, 
and this, added to his literary reputation, led 
to his appointment as one of Washington's 
aides with the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel, on 
March 1, 1777, when he was barely twenty 
years old. 

Hamilton acted wisely in accepting this new 
position, for which he was peculiarly fitted. 
He seems to have regarded the step with some 
misgiving, and to have felt that he had made 
a considerable sacrifice. His self-confidence 
natural enough under the circumstances, was 



THE REVOLUTION. 15 

fchen as always too strong; but in this in- 
stance he controlled it. Extraordinary success 
and the consciousness of great talents made it 
easy for a very young man to believe that if 
he remained in the line nothing was beyond 
his reach, and that no prospect was too brilliant 
for reasonable hope. Yet it is more than prob- 
able that if he had continued a line officer he 
would have attained no higher rank than that 
which he ultimately reached, while he would 
have sacrificed experiences and connections of 
inestimable value. With all his precocity and 
undoubted aptitude for military affairs, he was 
still too young to have obtained the highest 
commands before the end of the war, whereas, 
&s a member of Washington's family, he was 
brought into close association with the greatest 
man of the age, whose friendship he was able to 
win and retain. As a member of the staff of 
the Commander-in-chief, Hamilton's duties were 
various and highly responsible. He did not have 
she independent command for which he sighed, 
but he was present at all the battles in which 
the army was engaged, took more or less part 
in them, and always gained honor and distinc- 
tion. His principal occupation was in the con- 
duct of Washington's immense correspondence. 
A large proportion of the endless letters, re- 
ports, and proclamations which issued from 



16 ALEXANDER HAMILTON. 

headquarters, was the work of Hamilton. In 
regard to these documents there has been a 
very needless discussion. To claim for Hamil- 
ton the merit of all the correspondence which 
hearts Washington's name but which is in the 
handwriting of his aide-de-camp, and to speak 
of it as if Hamilton was the man who directed 
the movements of armies and informed Con- 
gress of their duty, is absurd. Washington was 
fortunate in having on his staff one of the most 
brilliant men of the day, with a vigorous, orig- 
inal, and well-stored mind, fertile in thought, a 
lucid and acute reason er, and a master of a clear 
and forcible style. We may be sure that nothing 
passed through Hamilton's hands without being 
put in the strongest and most condensed form, 
and at the same time amplified and adorned; 
but we may be equally sure that however much 
the General profited by the suggestions of his 
able secretary, the central ideas and guiding 
principles, whether conveyed in a word or dic- 
tated at length, were the intellectual property 
of the man who signed those letters and re- 
ports with the name of George Washington. 
The kernel of a letter may lie in a simple nega- 
tive or aflBrmative, which when fully expressed 
mil cover pages, but the author of the letter is 
be who directs the decisive " yes " or " no,* 
and not the man who clothes the thought in 



THE REVOLUTION. 17 

fitting words. This in no sense implies detrac- 
tion. It is a wrong to any man, be he great or 
small, to attribute to him something to which he 
is not entitled, and to present Hamilton, even 
in the most indirect way as the author of Wash- 
ington's despatches, is merely to injure the for- 
mer and neither to hurt nor help the latter, 
Hamilton's work as military secretary — and 
there is a great mass of it extant — deserves all 
praise, and greatly redounds to his credit. As 
his enthusiastic comrade, the gallant Laurens, 
said, he certainly held the pen of Junius in 
the American army, and to that gifted pen, 
employed as freely in another's service as in 
his own, and to the versatile and original mind 
of its possessor, Washington owed much and 
gave every proof that he appreciated the debt. 
For those interested in a close study of Hamil- 
ton's mind and character, the despatches which 
he wrote as secretary, as well as those which 
he composed in his individual capacity, are of 
great value. In them we can trace the rapid 
development of a keen and powerful intellect. 
There we can see displayed sagacity, foj:esight, 
acuteness, and force in every affair to which 
they relate, whether military or civil. There, 
too, we perceive the fertility of resource, the 
vigorous self-confidence, unhesitating decision, 
and undaunted spirit, which the young aide 

2 



18 ALEXANDER HAMILTON. 

afterwards made conspicuous on broader fields. 
All these qualities ^^ and they form a goodly 
iist — were moreover in a state of vigorous 
growth. There is nothing in Hamilton to sug- 
gest his namesake who bore the famous sobri- 
quet of "single speech," who was content with 
one splendid effort and then silent forever. 
Hamilton's correspondence, on the contrary, 
during his service on Washington's staff, con- 
stantly improves. In this and in many other 
ways he shows that reserved force which is one 
of the most essential elements of greatness, and 
the capacity to gather increased strength, like 
Antaeus, from each fresh contact with the earth 
of every-day events in a time of strain and 
trial. 

The most important duty which fell to Ham- 
ilton while serving as an aide was his mission to 
Gates to seek reenforcements. At that moment 
additional troops were essential to Washington, 
and they were only to be obtained from the 
northern army. While Washington was bearing 
defeat, and fighting on with grim pertinacity, 
Gates, in command of an army formed from the 
hardy levies of the North, had achieved a sig- 
nal victory which has taken a place among tho 
dozen decisive battles of the world's history. 
The surrender of Burgoyne had made Grates 
— to whom as little was due for the victory as 



MISSION TO GATES. 19 

?ould well be the case with the commanding 
officer — the idol of the North, and of New 
England especially. To offend Gates person- 
ally was a small matter, but to offend the 
northern colonies just then dissatisfied with 
Washington, would have been a very serious 
affair. As the superior officer of Gates, Wash- 
ington had the right to command, and at the 
same time this was precisely what he wished to 
avoid. Hamilton was, therefore, to get the 
troops without using, except in the last resort, 
the imperative authority which he carried in 
his pocket. It was a delicate and difficult mis- 
sion. Hamilton was never conspicuous for the 
patient and tolerant qualities which make a 
great diplomat, least of all, in the days of im- 
petuous youth, and yet, thanks to his strong 
sense and clear perception of facts, he acquitted 
himself most admirably. Gates, naturally a 
weak man, was blinded by the glamour of his 
great victory. When the wishes of the Com- 
mander-in-chief were made known to him he 
held back, hesitated, and finally gave way. 
Hamilton got his troops by the exercise of 
much patient persistence, and kept the tempt- 
ing letter of command out of sight. On his 
way back he also pushed forward the delaying 
Putnam, treating that General much more cav- 
alierly than Gates, but only, it is to be feared. 



20 ALEXANDER HAMILTON. 

as the unmanageable temper of the old wolf 
killer deserved. Hamilton won much credit, as 
well as the approbation of Washington, fo*r hie 
excellent behavior on this occasion. Not long 
afterward he was sent to Newport on a similar 
mission to the French, and again he showed 
himself a good envoy, although he failed to 
bring our allies to accede to Washington's 
wishes. 

One other episode of Hamilton's career as an 
aide-de-camp deserves notice in any account of 
his life. His position brought him into close 
connection with the wretched attempt to betray 
West Point. It fell to him to see and strive 
to console Mrs. Arnold in the first agony of her 
distress after the flight of her traitor husband, 
and it was his lot also to be much with the 
gifted and ill-fated Andr^. In letters to Miss 
Schuyler, his future wife, he depicted the scene 
with Mrs. Arnold ; he described the whole un- 
happy affair and dwelt much upon Andrd and 
upon his expiation of another's crime in which 
be had been but a tool. In all this there was 
deep pathos, and it acquires a fresh interest for 
the student of Hamilton's character as it shows 
fche deep feeling and tenderness of his nat'ire. 
No account of Arnold's treason and of the 
actors in it has ever equalled Hamilton's let- 
cers, which iu their clear and forcible sente'veea 



QUARREL WITH WASHINGTON. 21 

are full of a subdued eloquence, touching us and 
appealing to us even now by the emotion of a 
strong and reserved nature. 

Such, in brief, were the salient events in 
Hamilton's experience of four years as a mem- 
ber of Washington's staff. But not the least 
striking incident of this period of his life was 
that which resulted in the sudden close of his 
service with the Commander-in-chief. We have 
Hamilton's own account of the affair written 
on February 18, 1781, two days after it hap- 
pened. Washington had sent for Hamilton to 
come to him. The latter, delaying a few min- 
utes in obeying, found the General at the head 
of the stairs, who reproved him with no undue 
sharpness, saying that to keep him waiting was 
a mark of disrespect. Whereupon Hamilton re- 
plied, " I am not conscious of it, sir ; but since 
you have thought it, we part." One can hardly 
read this youthful ebullition even now without 
a smile. The fashion has prevailed of treating 
this quarrel as if the two participants stood upon 
equal ground, and this puts the whole matter 
on a thoroughly false footing. Let us look at 
the pair a moment as they stand there at the 
head of the stairs in the New Windsor house. 
One is a boy in years, although of wonderfui 
and manly maturity of mind. He is a stranger 
in the land who has shown himfielf possessed 



22 ALEXANDER HAMILTON. 

of great and promising talents ; he has proved 
himself an able writer, a brave soldier, an ex- 
cellent secretary. This small, slight, dark-eyed 
stripling is facing George Washington, and 
brimming over with a sense of offended dignity. 
Washington stands there in the prime of his 
middle age, large and imposing in personal ap- 
pearance. He is one of the foremost men in 
the world, a great general and statesman, grave 
and impressive as becomes a man who has car- 
ried in his hands the life of a nation. Some of 
Hamilton's biographers have referred to this 
affair as one of Washington's outbursts of pas- 
sion. Like all great men Washington had 
strong passions, like very few great men he had 
them under almost complete control. When 
they did break forth, as happened now and then 
in great stress of feeling, they bent everything 
before them, and there was a hush among those 
who listened. If Washington had spoken to 
Hamilton as he did to Lear about St. Clair's 
defeat, that fine reply, we are inclined to think, 
would not have been uttered. But deep wa- 
ters are ruffled, not stirred by a passing breeze. 
Washington spoke to Hamilton in a tone of 
sharp, but proper reproof. Few generals, prob- 
ably, would have spoken so courteously and 
gently to a young aide, who had kept them 
s^aiting and thus sinned against the first of 



YORKTOWy. 23 

Uiilitary virtues, prompt obedience. The event 
m itself is trivial enough. We smile at Hamil- 
ton's dignity and at his youthful satisfaction 
with his own conduct ; but Washington's behav- 
ior, then and subsequently, is not without impor- 
tance. He not only endeavored at once to heal 
the breach, although Hamilton repelled his ad- 
vances, but he continued to interest himself in 
his former aide, and suffered their friendship 
to undergo no diminution. There was more in 
this than the magnanimity, absolutely without 
flaw, which Washington always showed. It 
was a tribute to Hamilton's abilities from one 
of the best judges of men who ever lived. He 
saw Hamilton's capacity ; he cared nothing for 
his little outburst, and he was determined to 
retain his hold upon one in whom he perceived 
the possibility of great service to the country 
at some future time. He did this, too, without 
advancing Hamilton over the heads of other 
men to the position which the latter felt he 
would have gained if he had not joined the 
staff.i Washington watched over his fortunes 
at Yorktown, where Hamilton had a command 
and obtained the perilous privilege of leading 
the assault upon one of the outworks of the 
enemy. The opportunity was not lost. At 
the head of his men Hamilton rushed with aU 
his fiery impetuosity upon the British redoubt, 
1 See Appendix, Note B. 



24 ALEXANDER HAMILTON 

carried all before him and took the position in 
fcen minutes, doing his work much more quickly 
than the French, to whom the other redoubt 
had been assigned. With this dashing exploit 
Hamilton's military career came to an end, and 
he soon after betook himself to the pursuits of 
civil life. 

I have touched upon these incidents of Ham- 
ilton's army life because they throw a strong 
light upon his subsequent career, enable us to 
understand his course in aftertimes, and furnish 
the key to certain qualities which explain his 
thought and action. But there are other phases 
of mind and character suggested and exhibited 
by this eventful war period. Between his 
leaving the quiet college and the storm of the 
Yorktown redoubt, he was brought into close 
contact with many persons, and it thus be- 
comes possible to study his capacity of dealing 
with other men a matter of the first importance 
for any success in active life, and especially for 
a public man. In his position in the army 
there was no opportunity for so young a man 
to win general popularity, but this was some- 
thing which Hamilton never attained, and in- 
deed never sought. His genius and achieve - 
/ ments were not of the kind which appeal to 
, the hearts and imagination of the people ; he 
^as too great a man ever to descend to the 



FRIENDSHIPS. 26 

^rts of a demagogue, and he was too definite/ 
ft man ever to have that vague popularity 
which hangs about some persons without any 
assignable reason. But, at the same time, 
Hamilton had an extraordinary power of mak 
ing friends, and this comes out strongly in his 
army life. It was not merely that he won the 
respect of men of character and ability ; any 
man of equal talents was sure to do that ; but 
he gained the affectionate devotion of men of 
that sort, and attached them to him. He was 
evidently very attractive, and must have pos- 
sessed a great charm of manners, address, and 
conversation. But the real secret was that ho 
loved his friends, and so they loved him. We 
see this on every side. All his comrades on the 
staff and all the officers, young and old, who 
knew him and were not hostile to Washington, 
loved him, and were "proud of his talents. The 
same was true of the young French officers, with 
whom he was much thrown on account of hia 
perfect command of their language, a very rare 
accomplishment in the colonies. From Lafay- 
ette down they all liked Hamilton, and spoke 
to him and about him with all the quick en- 
thusiasm and lively affection of their race. In 
all this we see the germs of the power which 
afterwards gave Hamilton a personal follow- 
ing, much smaller than that of many of our 



26 ALEXANDER HAMILTON. 

party leaders, but in proportion to its numbers 
unequalled in our history for character, ability 
and devotion combined. 
I Another question which grows out of this 
period is that of Hamilton's military ability. 
Whatever he did in the war of the Revolution 
was well done, but a large part of his service 
was rather political and diplomatic^than mili- 
tary, and he was too young to have the largest 
opportunities. He proved himself a soldier of 
courage, dash, and coolness ; he showed that he 
had both nerve and foresight, all very essential 
qualities, but he had no chance to show more 
than this. He certainly believed that he had in 
him the making of a great general, and his mil- 
itary temperament and aptitude for military 
affairs go far to confirm this belief. If he had 
had the opportunity it may be safely said that 
he would have been a distinguished general, but 
\ehether he would have been a great one must 
necessarily remain a matter of mere conjecture. 
Yet whatever his talents for war may have 
been, the ruling passion was that of a states- 
man, and even in the midst of the hardships of 
the camp and field nothing could repress Ham- 
ilton's strong natural bent. Neither physical 
discomfort nor visions of military glory could 
keep him from meditating on questions of gov- 
ernment and finance. At the beginning or 



PLANS FOR BETTER GOVERNMENT. 27 

1780, being then just twenty-three years old, 
he addressed an anonymous letter to Robert 
Morris on the financial affairs of the confed- 
eracy, at that time in their worst state, and 
threatening far more than the British armies to 
bring the Revolution to an untimely end. The 
paper begins with a careful consideration of 
the condition of the nearly worthless currency 
and the causes of its depreciation. It all looks 
very simple as we read it now, but at that time 
political economy was unknown, the modern 
systems of financiering were unheard of, and 
the true causes of financial phenomena were 
still hidden. Away from such books and au- 
thorities as there were, and relying on his 
memory for his facts, Hamilton gives an analy- 
sis and explanation of the depreciation of the 
currency admirable in its clearness and sound- 
ness, thoroughly modern in reasoning, and con- 
clusive in argument. Young as he was he al- 
lowed with singular penetration for the part 
which the imagination plays in all such mat- 
ters as credit and currency, and reckoned on it 
as a factor with great exactness. This little 
essay on inflated and depreciated currency is as 
valuable to-day as when, it was written a cent- 
ury ago, and proves beyond question an inborn 
genius for finance, showing its author indeed 
to be entitled to stand with Turgot and Pitt 



£8 ALEXANDER HAMILTON. 

as a pioneer in what has since become the most 
important department of practical government. 
This remarkable essay was only preliminary. 
The youthful aide-de-camp had his remedy out 
lined in his head and ready for execution. He 
proposed to meet existing difficulties by grad- 
iial_c«5ntraction, a tax__m j:ind, and a foreign 
loan, which last was to form the basis of a na- 
tional bank. The great purpose of the bank, 
and indeed the pith of Hamilton's scheme, was 
to unite the interests of the moneyed classes 
in the support of the government credit. The 
bank was to be a great trading and banking 
corporation in private hands, but backed and 
partly controlled by the government to which 
it was to be under certain obligations. The 
details were carefully worked out, but the lead- 
ing ideas suffice to show the grasp of Hamil- 
ton's mind and the germs of his future policy. 

A few months later Hamilton addressed a let- 
ter to James Duane, then a member of Con- 
gress from New York, on the subject of the 
government. A large part of this document is 
devoted to the army, then in sorry plight, 
owing to the inefficiency of Congress and the 
Jl-adjusted relations of the States. The roo<. 
af the evil Hamilton finds in the weakness of 
,'he central government, and the jarring and 
inispendent powers of the States. He urge^ 



PLANS FOR hEFTER GOVERNMENT. 29 

stronger government, single men at the heads 
Bf departments, and the absolute control by 
Congress of certain functions, such as making 
treaties, controlling the army and navy, and 
the like. To bring these things to pass, he 
Bays that Congress must either resume the dis 
cretionary powers which it exercised at the out- 
set and then suffered to decline, or else a con- 
vention must be called to form a new, strong, 
and well-defined central government. Neither 
Bcheme was possible at that time, and the sec- 
ond, which was soon of course to be the true 
remedy, was at that moment of war and con- 
fusion more impracticable even than the first. 
The letter concludes with an outline of the 
bank as the best method of dealing with the 
most crying evils. The whole paper is strongly 
centralizing in tone especially for that time, 
although Hamilton had not then got beyond 
thinking that Senates were liable to become 
dangerously aristocratic. 

A month later he writes a brief letter to the 
New York patriot, Isaac Sears, in which he sums 
up the results of his reflections as follows : — 

" We must have a government with more power. 
W"e must have a tax in kind. We must have a foreign 
.can. We must have a bank on the true principles 
of a bank. We musi fiave an Administration distinct 
from Congress, and in the hands of single men undei 



30 ALEXANDER HAMILTON. 

their orders. We must above all things have ao 
urmy for the war, and an establishment that will in- 
terest the officers in the service." 

Six months afterwards, in the spring of 1781, 
fco Robert Morris, then at the head of the 
finances, he writes again, setting forth his 
scheme for a national bank with all the addi- 
tions and improvements obtained by a year's 
reflection. 

These letters are all interesting, not merely 
because they display Hamilton's talents in the 
strongest way, and show the breadth and scope 
of his mind, but because they exhibit in the 
clearest light the constructive character of his 
intellect. He was not only thinking like every- 
body else how the war could be brought to a 
successful conclusion, and present difficulties 
conquered, but also how a new system could be 
built up on the ruiLS of the old fabric of so- 
ciety and government. His time had not come, 
the world about him was occupied as it always 
is with the immediate exigency ; it had not 
even finished the work of destruction, and was 
very far from having cleared the ground and 
made up its mind to build again. Hamilton's 
ideas, as those of far-seeing and brilliant men 
are apt to be, were a little before their time. 
But people were coming nearer to them everj 
iay, and in a few years just such a man would 



LEAVES THE ARMY. 31 

be needed. The beginning was indeed close at 
hand, for Hamilton went from the army almost 
at once to a stage where he had opportunity 
for his first experiments, and could learn in a 
hard school the immense tasfe which lay before 
him of converting his theories into practice and 
turning his schemes into realities. 



CHAPTER III. 

LAW AND POLITICS. 

IlT the midst of the war Hamilton had found 
lime to fall in love. On his mission to Gates 
he met at Albany Miss Elizabeth Schuyler. 
The acquaintance thus begun was renewed in 
the following spring, and then ripened into an 
engagement. Late in the same year, on De- 
cember 14, 1780, he was married. This was 
in every way a most fortunate event for Ham- 
ilton. He not only won a most charming and 
intelligent woman for his wife, but he allied 
himself with a family rich, well known, and 
of the best position in the community. His 
father-in-law, General Schuyler, a brave, gen- 
erous, honest gentleman, was universally be- 
loved and respected, and thus Hamilton secured 
the firm anchorage which his wandering for- 
tunes needed. He was no longer an isolated 
stranger, as much at home in one state or city 
as in another, but a member of a strong family 
deeply rooted in their ancestral soil. On the 
other hand, Hamilton brought to this respect- 
able and important Dutch family not only thu 



LEGAL STUDIES. 33 

society of an attractive man but the rising for 
tunes of one whose brilliant talents, had, as 
everybody could divine, a great destiny. Cer- 
tain it is, that he was most warmly received by 
his wife's family, and the wide connection thus 
formed by marriage was soon held by the much 
stronger tie of personal friendship. 

But whatever else Hamilton brought his 
wife, worldly goods were not among his pos- 
sessions. Love of money was never one of his 
qualities, and he had an abiding confidence in 
his own capacity to earn at any time as much 
as he needed, so that at the close of the wai 
he found himself with a wife and child and no 
resources except his arrears of pay and his 
own abilities. He steadfastly refused General 
Schuyler's generous offers of assistance, and 
betook himself at once to a study of the law, 
the profession by which he intended to get 
both fame and bread and butter. At the con- 
clusion of a few months' study, early in the 
summer of 1782, he was admitted to the bar. 
His preparation was hasty, and his knowledge, 
when he came to the bar, must have been ex- 
ceedingly imperfect, but with his intensity of 
apph cation and readiness of mind, he had un- 
doubtedly gathered in that short time a good 
deal of legal learning ; and, what was far more 
bo the purpose, it was not an undigested mass 



84 ALEXANDER HAMILTON. 

of information, but was thoroughly systema- 
tized and arranged. Everything that Hamilton 
had in his mind, everything, certainly, to which 
he gave his attention, took the shape of argu- 
mentative statement. All his serious ideas fell 
naturally into the forms of logic, and with a 
little effort he could throw his thoughts on any 
subject into numbered paragraphs, and make 
them assume the guise of a concise brief. In a 
word, Hamilton had, above all things, a classify- 
ing and logical mind. His hasty legal studies 
came, of course, within the operation of this 
rule of mental action. As fast as he acquired 
his knowledge of law, it fell into well-defined 
form and system, so that when he was admitted 
to the bar all he had learned was compactly 
stated, and neatly arranged in a little manual, 
which was found in manuscript by those who 
came after him, and which, as we are told, did 
good service to others whose minds did not have 
a clarifying effect upon everything that was 
poured into them. 

But while Hamilton was studying law, and 
even before he left the army, others, conscious 
of his talents and feeling that he deserved well 
of his country, had pressed him forward for 
public oflBce. He could have been a commis- 
Bioiier of the French loan, but, always generous, 
he gave way in order that his friend Laurent 



RECEIVER OF TAXES. 85 

might go to Europe and rejoin his father, fresh 
from imprisonment in the Tower. His name 
was brought forward and talked about in con- 
nection with the Peace Commission; and finally 
in June, 1782, Robert Morris, who appreciated 
Hamilton's abilities, appointed him Continental 
Receiver of Taxes for New York. Vested with 
his new authority, Hamilton betook himself to 
Poughkeepsie, where the legislature was sit- 
ting, and where his restless spirit soon became 
apparent. First came a set of resolutions de- 
manding a new convention and a better union 
of the States. This the legislature was induced 
to pass. Next followed a clear and scientific 
plan of taxation to replace the impotent and 
chaotic system then existing, but this the legis- 
lature would not adopt Then appeared an ad- 
dress to the public creditors, letters to the gov- 
ernor, pertinacious applications to all branches 
of the government, and all members of it, and 
vigorous efforts to obtain for the central gov- 
ernment the tardy and sorely needed supplies. 
The results of all this zealous work were piti- 
ful. Hamilton squeezed out a few thousand 
pounds, and with these and his resolutions in 
favor of a new convention of the States, he was 
fain to be content. His activity bore fruit, 
however, in another direction. The acquaint- 
ance he made and the impression he produced 



86 ALEXANDER HAMILTON. 

resulted in his election by the legislature as a 
member of Congress, in which once brilliant 
but now feeble body he took his seat in No- 
vember, 1782, having resigned his receivership 
a month before. 

When Hamilton entered Congress, it had 
fallen far below that predecessor of 1774-75 
which extorted the applause of Europe, and 
which probably had a higher average of ability 
than any legislative body of equal numbers of 
which anything is known. It had not, how- 
ever, in 1782 reached that condition of utter 
decrepitude into which it subsequently sank, 
nor did it, as yet, enjoy the full measure of that 
popular contempt which subsequently became 
its portion. It still had among its members 
men of ability and force. Conspicuous among 
them was Madison, young, but prudent, sa- 
gacious and acute, warped somewhat by his 
Virginian notions, yet, withal, a statesman of a 
high order, and second in talent to Hamilton 
alone. There are a few others, such as Wil- 
son, Clymer, Bland, Higginson, and Wither- 
Bpoon, men of reputation, sense, and ability, who 
stand out from the crowd, but most of the mem- 
bers, although well-meaning, were wholly com- 
monplace and totally unable to deal with the 
grave problems which confronted them. The 
difficulties of the situation were, in truth, im 



THE CONGRESS OF THE CONFEDERATION. 37 

mense. It was a time of social and political 
chaos, of broken promises and unfulfilled hopes. 
The storms of war had at least filled the sails, 
but they had now ceased to blow, and the ship 
of state was lurching terribly in the heavy sea, 
|ird threatening at every moment to go to 
pieces. Hamilton had entered upon a broader 
field, but he found the same disheartening ob- 
stacles which he had encountered in New York 
increased in Congress thirteen-fold, and to be 
overcome by a legislature which was utterly 
powerless. Young, enthusiastic, and full of 
ideas, he flung himself manfully into the strug- 
gle. He made himself deeply felt at once, pro- 
duced such an impression that he was talked of 
as fitted for several of the most important of- 
fices, and left the stamp of his clear and power- 
ful intellect on everything Congress attempted 
to do. But it was all in vain. His most des- 
perate efforts were fruitless ; for bad as things 
were, the condition of the times was such that 
they could not get better until they had be- 
come much worse. Let us glance for a moment 
at the various tasks to which he put his hand, 
as they come before us inextricably interwoven 
in this year of his public service. They will 
lerve to show the persistent c^nergy and strong 
■^nse of the man, and the evil days on which 
Le fell at the opening of his career of political 
aciioii. 



B8 ALEXANDER HAMILTON 

Just as Hamilton was entering Congress 
Franklin was engaged in the diplomatic cam- 
paign which ended in such a signal triumph 
for the American envoys. When the issue of 
the negotiations became known in this country, 
there were plenty of men ready to abuse the 
astute old philosopher and his colleagues for 
violating their instructions in proceeding with- 
out the cooperation of France, and for agreeing 
to a secret Florida article with the British com- 
missioners. The natural hatred of England had 
been balanced by a trust in France equally 
natural, but far more unreasonable. On thia 
principle Congress, with what amounted to pos- 
itive servility, and guided by the subtle Luzerne, 
had placed the negotiation within French con- 
trol, and this was the command which the com- 
missioners had boldly and wisely disobeyed. 
Hence the outcry from lovers of France and 
haters of England. Hamilton, with his keen 
insight and with the liberality of mind which 
assured him that the envoys could judge better 
than he could, was less extreme. Yet even he, 
although soon to be stigmatized as " British," 
felt so favorably toward France and so hostile 
to England, that he advocated a middle course, 
and introduced a resolution which, while it sua 
tained and praised the envoys, provided, never 
theless, for the disclosure of the secret article 



THE CONGRESS OF TUB CONFEDERATION. 39 

to the French minister. The signatures to the 
preliminaries of the general peace cut the con- 
troversy short, but even at their worst our for- 
eign relations were simplicity itself compared to 
our domestic difficulties. 

Finance was the great overwhelming trouble 
which laid bare the fatal vices of our political 
system, and it was upon financial rocks that the 
rickety Confederation was dashing itself to 
pieces. Our affairs in the way of debts and tax- 
ation were entering upon their last and worst 
phases at the beginning of 1783, when the pat- 
riotic Morris was resigning in disgust, and the 
young projector of national banks was new 
in Congress. These were of course questions 
highly attractive to Hamilton's genius, and 
therefore it was that upon them his most stren- 
uous efforts were wasted while representing his 
State at Philadelphia. The first object was 
to obtain consent to the grant of an impost on 
imports. One State had not been heard from, 
but Rhode Island was the only one in active 
opposition, and to the conversion of this obsti- 
nate and selfish little community Hamilton ad- 
dressed himself. He it was who led the debate 
in Congress, who obtained a committee to visit 
Rhode Island and argue with their government, 
and from his pen proceeded a forcible letter to 
the governor. Even while he was contending 



40 ALEXANDER HAMILTON. 

with Rhode Island, Virginia receded from the 
agreement and the whole scheme fell through. 
Had it succeeded, it would, if the States had 
held to it, have furnished a permanent revenue, 
and hence Hamilton's zeal. Defeated at this 
point, Congress fell back on its old policy of 
recommending a grant for a term of years, and 
agauist this Hamilton and Higginson voted with 
the Rhode Islanders, wlio opposed all forms of 
taxation or debt-paying. Hamilton explains 
his course in a letter to Governor Clinton. He 
was not willing to lend his support to schemes 
of proved futility, or aid in the self -stultification 
of Congress, which progressed rapidly enough 
in any event. The fact was that there were 
very few adherents of what Hamilton calls 
" Continental politics," which favored strong, 
honest measures, and the funding of the public 
debt. To this the friends of the States made all 
possible opposition, and the result was helpless 
stagnation. The government had no resources, 
for the only one of any value, foreign loans, was 
nearly exhausted. Hamilton looked with abso- 
lute disgust upon this dogged refusal to pay 
the price of freedom, this stupid indifference to 
Vonor rapidly degraded by the practical disre. 
gard of all just claims, foreign and domestic. 

But the blackest ingratitude and the dis- 
honesty which touched Hamilton most nearly 



TUE CONGRESS OF THE CONFEDERATION. 41 

ivas the treatment of the army, for Congress 
contemplated disbanding these gallant soldiers 
ivithout even the pretence of providing for their 
long arrears of pay. Washington regarded with 
horror such an idea, and feared " most unhappy 
disturbances." Hamilton had a notion that the 
army might be used to threaten Congress suf- 
ficiently to induce them to make proper provi- 
sion for all creditors, but Washington warned 
him that the army suspected that it was to 
be used for this purpose, merely to be thrown 
aside afterwards, and that it was a dangerous 
instrument to play with. Very soon this pre- 
diction of possible disaster from men with arms 
in their hands and smarting with a sense of 
wrong, came alarmingly near fulfilment, and 
failed only through the influence of Washing- 
ton himself. The army at Newburgh was in a 
perilous condition, and the famous Newburgh 
addresses show wliat might have happened if 
Washington had chosen to put himself at the 
head of the ill-used troops. But Washington not 
merely refrained from uttering the fatal word 
of ambition ; lie threw himself into the breach, 
checked the whole movement, and quelled so 
far as was possible the rising and dangerous 
discontent. We hardly appreciate that at New- 
burgh Washington rendered one of his greatest 
servic/es. He did not put aside the crown, like 



42 ALEXANDER HAMILTON. 

the Caesar of Shakespeare, but the idea of sov- 
ereignty never even entered his thoughts, never 
for an instant darkened the unrivalled purity 
of his utter unselfishness and single-minded- 
ness. A word from him, and the star of the 
Revolution might easily have gone down in 
military rebellion, and military despotism com- 
ing suddenly upon an exhausted and divided 
country. But all this Washington checked, and 
the only outcome of the discontents was a 
mutiny of some new levies near Philadelphia. 
Even these mutineers, however, frightened the 
feeble government, and produced a sharp con 
troversy with the Pennsylvanian authorities, be- 
cause they failed to call out the militia for 
the protection of Congress, who thereupon em- 
ployed Hamilton's vigorous pen to castigate the 
lukewarm State. In all these troubles Hamil- 
ton manfully took the part of the army, and 
acted with the Commander-in-chief. He drew 
resolutions of thanks to Washington, which 
Congress readily adopted, for they were always 
generous of fine words and empty phrases, 
but the army got nothing. They were sent 
unpaid to their homes, taking their arms with 
them as tokens of the gratitude of their coun- 
try. Hamilton urged the maintenance of a 
force which should furnish the basis for future 
armies if they were needed, but Congress cut 



THE CONGRESS OF THE CONFEDERATION. 43 

it down to the lowest point, retaining only some 
eighty dangerous mercenaries in the national 
Bervice. Defeated at all points, Hamilton strove 
Co have the debates made public and the ses- 
sions open, hoping in this way to exert the 
pressure of public opinion, but he was once 
more flouted and voted down. 

In the summer of 1783 Hamilton's term ex- 
pired, and he withdrew to private life and to 
the practice of his profession. His congres- 
sional service had been a complete failure, so 
far as results were concerned. Even his iron 
energy of purpose had dashed itself in vain 
against the popular demoralization and indiffer- 
ence. The times were not yet ripe for the 
work he had to do. But although he failed 
to accomplish anything for the good of the 
country, he extended his own reputation, and 
laid fast hold of a position which was sure to 
make him a leader in the future party of re- 
construction. A letter from McHenry, written 
in October, 1783, gives in clumsy phrase a very 
exact idea of the effect produced by Hamilton 
In Congress. McHenry says : — 

" The homilies you delivered in Congress are still 
recollected with pleasure. The impressions they made 
are in favor of year integrity ; and no one but be- 
lieves you a man of honor and republican princi- 
ples. Were you ten years .^Ider and twenty thou&and 



44 ALEXANDER HAMILTON. 

pounds richer, there is no doubt but that you might 
obtain the suffrages of Congress for the highest office 
in their gift. You are supposed to possess variou8 
knowle<lge, useful, substantial, and ornamental. Your 
very grave, and your cautious, your men who measure 
others by the standard of their own creeping politics, 
think you sometimes intemperate but seldom vision- 
ary, and that were you to pursue your object with 
as much cold perseverance as you do with ardor and 
argument, you would become irresistible. In a word, 
if you could submit to spend a whole life in dissect- 
ing a fly, you would be, in their opinion, one of the 
greatest men in the world. Bold designs ; measures 
calculated for their rapid execution ; a wisdom that 
would convince from its own weight ; a project that 
would surprise the people into greater happiness with- 
out giving them an opportunity to view it and reject 
it ; are not adapted to a council composed of discord- 
lint elements, or a people who have thirteen heads, 
each of which pays superstitious adorations to inferior 
divinities." 

Besides reputation, Hamilton, gained expe- 
rience in Congress, and that of a kind which 
had a powerful influence on his opinions of pol 
itics and government. His mind was naturally 
conservative and order-loving, but he was also 
Foung and enthusiastic, and in the struggle with 
England he held very liberal views, ^vas not 
only then as always a champion of constitu 
tional liberty, but in the days when he thoughi 



THE CONGRESS OF THE CONFEDERATION. 45 

senates dangerously aristocratic, leaned strongly 
to democratic principles. These tendencies, de- 
veloped by a war against oppression, were 
rudely nipped, first by the treatment of the 
gallant army of which he was a member, and 
still more by his experience in Congress. The 
natural impulses of his temperament once more 
asserted themselves in all their strength. In 
Congress or rather in the States which were 
there represented he saw thirteen pure represen- 
tative democracies ; some of an extreme type. 
The distinguishing qualities of these communi- 
ties, and of the central government as well, were 
at that moment faction, jealousy, and discord, 
infirmity of purpose, feebleness in action, un- 
blushing dishonesty in finance, black ingrati- 
tude toward the army, and the rapid acquisition 
of an ever-growing contempt on the part of the 
rest of mankind. The main difficulty lay clearly 
in the overgrown rights of thirteen independent 
and jarring States. Next to this came the inev- 
itable disorganization and demorrJization con- 
sequent upon revolution, which Hamilton saw 
plainly enough, but which he believed to be 
deeply aggravated by too great an extension of 
democratic principles. We can hardly wonder 
that, constituted as he was, his conservatism 
grew vigorously. From this period we may 
date the conception of that aristocratic republic 



46 ALEXANDER HAM I LT ON. 

Rnd strong government, which was to be so 
highly centralized that the obnoxious States ol 
the confederacy would sink to mere provinces, 
and which found expression in' the plan so elo- 
quently presented by Hamilton to the conven- 
tion of 1787. By the Congress of 1782-83 
were planted, also, we may be sure, the germs 
of that deep distrust of democracy and demo- 
cratic systems which attained so great a growth 
when it seemed to find in the French revolu- 
tion such awful confirmation. The one year of 
Congress, utterly futile and barren as it seemed, 
had a deep effect upon Hamilton ; that is, upon 
a man who was destined to leave a profound 
impression upon the history of his country, and 
who was to become the leader and type of a 
powerful school of political thought. 

Hamilton's withdrawal from public office was 
by no means equivalent to separation from pub- 
lic affairs. Both as a lawyer in successful 
practice, and as a writer, he was a leader and 
mover of opinion in New York. One of the 
great troubles of the times was the popular atti- 
tude toward the Tories, or loyalists, and in New 
York the feeling was peculiarly bitter. There 
was an active determination to take vengeance 
on all who had sided with the crown and were 
now helpless, and this was done in utter viola- 
kion not only of wise policy, of public moral* 



DEFENCE OF THE LOYALISTS. 47 

jmd of the law of nations, but also in direct 
Bontravention of the treaty with England. Ham- 
ilton before leaving Congress had urged upon 
Governor Clinton the imperative duty of pay- 
ing British debts, as provided by the treaty, 
iud on his return to the bar he found himself 
at once engaged in a case growing out of these 
hostile feelings. The legislature had passed an 
act, known as the " Trespass Act," giving a 
right of action to those whose property had been 
occupied during the war by loyalists. Relying 
on this statute, a poor widow brought suit 
against a rich loyalist merchant who had occu- 
pied her property during the British ascend- 
ancy. All the sympathy and passion of the 
multitude were with the plaintiff, but Hamil- 
ton, with the fine disdain of popular clamor 
which always characterized him, took the brief 
for the defendant. In a masterly argument, 
elaborate, eloquent, and high-minded, he ap- 
pealed to the pride of the court to do justice, 
^•egardless of everything else ; he reviewed every 
j^oint of his opponent's case ; raised the ques- 
tion from the narrow ground of a wrongful 
r^tacute and rested it on public morals, the laws 
of nations, and the sanctity of treaties. He 
gained his cause, the first and one of the great- 
est of the forensic triumphs which gave him 
so high a place at the American bar, and his 



48 ALEXANDER HAMILTON. 

victory was the signal for a burst of legislative 
anger. The decision and the judges were de- 
nounced, but Hamilton had stemmed the tide, 
for the time at least, and, what was of far 
greater importance, had led the court to vindi* 
cate its honor and sense of justice. 

Other violent and revengeful acts against the 
loyalists followed, and the disregard of treaty 
rights gave England a readily -taken excuse for 
refusing to carry out her share of the provi- 
sions for indemnity and for the surrender of the 
posts. Again Hamilton came forward in behalf 
of a wise, liberal, and true policy of amnesty 
and conciliation. Snatching time from his pro- 
fessional labors, he sent forth two vigorous and 
widely read pamphl*^ts advocating all that was 
just and statesmanlike in dealings with the loy- 
alists and in observance of treaties. He re- 
mained unrefuted. Certain ones among his ene- 
•nies planned to challenge him successively until 
he should fall in a duel, but though they were 
ready to face his pistol, they could neither meet 
uor answer his arguments. They had the good 
^ense to abandon this murderous scheme, and 
no challenge was sent, but the idea was a very 
pretty compliment to Hamilton's power as 2 
writer. 

In other directions Hamilton's ability and 
activity were equally manifest. He was one 0* 



THE NEW YORK BANK. 49 

fclie founders and principal originators of a state 
bank, which was of good service, and cut off the 
land bank scheme of Chancellor Livingston, just 
then fascinating the very untrustworthy lawgiv- 
ers of the State. In the formation of the so- 
ciety of the Cincinnati he took an active part, 
and was one of its best friends and guides in the 
tumult of attack with which it was received in 
that day of narrow views and ungrateful suspi- 
cion. Thus these years slipped away in busy 
usefulness, but Hamilton never lost sight of 
the necessary changes in the national system, 
watching, waiting, and striving, in company 
with the few leaders like Washington who 
thought "continentally," to create a proper 
public opinion and bring about a successful na- 
tional movement. 
4 



CHAPTER IV. 

THE CONSTITUTION. 

1786-1789. 

While Hamilton was thus engaged in the 
pursuit of his profession, taking an active part 
in many matters of general importance, and 
laboring with a chosen few for the education of 
the people in the right direction, and for the 
establishment of a national party, public affairs 
were rapidly going from bad to worse. The 
people, who had won the admiration of Eu- 
rope in their conduct of the opposition to Eng- 
land and in the war for independence, had now 
become an object of general contempt, and were 
very nearly at the lowest stage of degradation 
in the eyes of the world. Divided among them- 
selves, with no army, no navy, no cohesion, 
floundering wilfully and helplessly in a sea of 
anpaid debts and broken promises, the States of 
the confederacy were bankrupt in money and 
reputation alike. The great powers looked on 
with gratification, each seeing a possible vic» 
tim in America, and coveting a share of the 



THE CONSTITUTION. 51 

ipoils. England, beaten in battle, and deter- 
mined on revenge if not redress, held the west- 
urn posts, kept the Indians in her control, and 
the borders in a state of terror and ferment , 
while by hostile proclamations and discrimi- 
nating laws she sought to ruin the commerce 
j)f her former colonies and embroil them still 
further with each other. To France the Rev- 
olution had offered a splendid opportunity to 
gratify the passionate longing for revenge en- 
gendered by the terrible disasters inflicted by 
Pitt. The ministry and the court of Louis XVI. 
watched American affairs closely, and when the 
moment of assured victory seemed to have come, 
they gave us welcome aid. They intended to 
strike a terrible blow at England, and they did 
it. The fine gentlemen and gallant soldiers who 
came here came for vengeance. If we except 
Lafayette, nearly ever^^ one in France, from the 
king and his ministers down, were animated by 
pohcy and revenge. The sentimental sympathy 
of fashionable Paris would have done but little 
♦^or us. Self-interest did a great deal. Having 
Lelped us most essentially, and having at the 
same time used us for her own purposes, France 
now aimed covertly to obtain control of hei 
former allies, and even Spain insulted and de- 
fied us. The disintegration of the general gov- 
ernnient was spreading to the individual States 



52 ALEXANDER BAMILTON. 

The future State of Kentucky was breaking ofl 
from Virginia ; Wyoming was a sharp thorn in 
the side of Pennsylvania ; New York, at odda 
with Massachusetts, was still more deeply em- 
broiled with the settlers of what was to be Ver- 
mont, and with New Hampshire. As the States 
in their selfishness and blindness trampled on 
the confederacy, they began to feel the effects 
of this conduct in these disorders within their 
own limits. The finances of every State, with 
hardly an exception, were utterly debauched. 
Fresh inflations of worthless currency were 
coupled with barbarous laws to enforce its cir- 
culation and compel its acceptance. Public 
bankruptcy was followed by personal and pri- 
vate distress, and then came stay-laws, and 
every sort of dishonest expedient in the sG- 
called interest of the debtor class. In every 
State, too, were local leaders, like George Clin- 
ton and John Hancock, who saw in a strong 
central government a great diminution of their 
own consequence. They preferred being first 
in their villages to being second at Rome, and 
therefore headed, directed, and gave force to 
the ungovernable majority, and gained politi- 
cal prosperity from the evils of the time. The 
first sobering shock came from Massachusetta 
In that State, one of the richest and strongest 
In the confederacy, the Shays rebellion broke 



THE CONSTITUTIOir. 53 

out, threatening courts and law with extinction^ 
Hancock the popular hero had prudently re- 
signed, and James BoAvdoin, a man who thought 
''continentally," was left to crush the insurrec- 
tion, and sacrifice his popularity in the service 
of the State. The whole affair was soon over, 
but it had its effect. The miserable fabric of 
the central government had tumbled at the 
stroke, and armed anarchy and rebellion looked 
terribly unpleasant, when men were brought 
face to face with them. They did more to 
arouse people to a sense of their desperate con- 
dition than all the brilliant reasoning of Ham- 
ilton or the great influence of Washington. 

From Massachusetts, too, under the lead of 
Bowdoiu, came the first effort for a better union 
in the form of instructions to her representa- 
tives to urge the necessity of a new convention 
upon Congress. But the representatives were 
chosen by the States-rights party, for in truth 
there was at that time no other, and they 
smothered the instructions, explaining their 
:;ourse at their leisure a twelvemonth later. 
The first attempt had failed, but had done its 
share of the work of drawing public attention 
to the true remedy and its necessity. The suc- 
cessful movement came from the commercial 
interests. Virginia and manj other States were 
striving for a retaliatory agreement against 



54 ALEXANDER HAMILTON. 

England, but nothing could be effected. New 
York was particularly selfish, and the neighbor- 
ing States were beginning to open free porta 
and discriminate against New York and against 
each other. These warring and increasing jeal- 
ousies were, of course, destroying our commerco 
and crippling the country. Virginia having 
made a commercial convention with Maryland, 
was struck with the idea that it would be a 
good plan to extend it to the other States, and 
in a burst of liberal feeling passed resolutions 
in January, 1786, calling for a convention at 
Annapolis, to consider the establishment of a 
uniform commercial system. 

It is at this point that Hamilton's share in 
the formation of the constitution begins. In 
this limited and unpromising opening lie saw 
a chance to bring about a convention with pow- 
ers great enough to reorganize the government 
throughout, and save the sinking fortunes of 
the country. It was but a stepping-stone, and 
a small and slippery one at best, but, if properly 
used, the next stride might be to a gathering 
capable of extended and enduring work. With 
this great end in view, some of his friends and 
followers secured seats in the legislature, and 
uhile the Clintonians were magnifying their 
State and their leader and helping to plunge 
^he wretched confederacy still deeper in the 



THE CONSTITUTION. 55 

ilough of impotency, the little band of Con- 
tinentalists " went their whole strength " on 
representation at Annapolis, and succeeded in 
obtaining the appointment of five commission- 
ers, of whom Hamilton was one. After the 
fashion of that feeble and demoralized time, 
only two commissioners, Hamilton and Benson, 
went to Annapolis where they met the repre- 
sentatives of no more than four other States, 
Buch was the public indifference to anything of 
national importance. The little meeting could 
do nothing for commerce or anything else, but 
it was able to issue an address, calling another 
convention where the delegates should come 
with general powers, such as New Jersey had 
given in the present instance. This address 
was drafted by Hamilton, and after it had been 
toned down to suit the sensibilities of Virginia 
and of Edmund Randolph, governor thereof, 
it was sent out to the people. In simple and 
forcible terms it set forth the condition of the 
country, the evils and dangers which threatened 
it, and the grave need of a complete reorgan- 
ization of the government. The little gather- 
ing at Annapolis had done its work, and played 
its part as a stepping-stone. It now remained 
to ma.ke the convention, whi3h was to come, a 
luccess. 

With this end in view Hamilton gained an 



56 ALEXANDER HAMILTON. 

election to the legislature of New York, and 
at once assumed the lead of the forces opposed 
to the governor. He served on many impor- 
tant committees and took an influential part in 
all the business of the House. The dividing 
question was the grant of a permanent revenue 
to Congress. Here Hamilton had already been 
at work and had written and distributed an ad- 
dress to the people, denouncing the refusal of 
New York to comply with the request of Con- 
gress. The preceding legislature had granted 
the revenue, bnt under conditions which nul- 
lified the act. Congress had asked for an extra 
session to reconsider this action, and Clinton had 
refused. In January, 1787, the new legislature 
was obliged to meet the question. All reason 
and a great deal of ability besides Hamilton's 
were with the general government, but Clinton 
had the votes. After a hot debate, the gov- 
ernor obtained an approval of his course, and 
after a still more protracted struggle, in which 
Hamilton shone with the full lustre of eloquent 
argument, the grant of the impost was de- 
feated. Clinton and his followers gave the fin- 
ishing stroke to the confederacy, completed its 
wreck, and left the country to choose between 
anarchy and union on a new basis. They 
Duilded better than they knew. 

But while Hamilton, with practical gooc^ 



THE CONSTITUTION. 57 

sense, was straining every nerve to sustain Con- 
gress and give the existing system, wretched as 
it was, another chance for life, he did not lose 
sight of the grand object which he had kept in 
view for years, and which had brought him to 
the New York legislature. In the course of 
the session his talents had been fully displayed, 
his personal attraction had been deeply felt, 
so that despite the hostile majority he carried 
through a resolution for the appointment of 
five delegates to the coming convention. The 
Senate cut down the number to three, and 
defeated a second resolution, which Hamilton 
carried in the House, to add two more. The 
election of delegates followed, and resulted in 
the choice of Chief Justice Yates, John Lan- 
sing, Jr., and Alexander Hamilton. Yates and 
Lansing were uncompromising Clintonians and 
States-rights men, who could be relied upon to 
vote against any form of improved federal gov- 
ernment. The fact of their election is the best 
evidence of the odds which Hamilton liad over- 
come in securing the resolution for their ap- 
pointment. Notwithstanding the character of 
the delegates, Hamilton had won a decided vic- 
tory in the very teeth of a compact majority by 
forcing New York to be represented in the con- 
tention. 

Ou the 25th of May, 1787, the representa- 



58 ALEXANDER HAMILTON. 

fcives of nine States were assembled at Philadel- 
phia^ and the work of forming a new constitu- 
tion began. It is no part of my purpose to en- 
ter into the history of that famous convention. 
Hamilton's great services to the cause of the 
union and the constitution were rendered before 
and aft»*r its meeting. From the day when he 
wrote from Washington's camp the letter to 
Duane, setting forth the scheme of a stronger 
government, he had never ceased to labor for 
that end. In every legislative body within his 
reach he had striven for resolutions commend- 
ing that object. He it was who had seized 
with quick sagacity on the opening afforded at 
Annapolis and turned it to such good account. 
He had labored incessantly to form public opin- 
ion by essays in the newspapers, by addresses 
and speeches, while in private letters he kept 
up constant communication with those leaders 
who thought as he did and sought always to 
make converts where his words or his friend- 
ship could have weight. By great sacrifice of 
time and by strenuous exertions he bad forced 
New York to appear at the convention, and had 
toiled to gain the approbation of Congress for 
the new enterprise. At List his thought and la- 
bor were near fruition. The convention which 
he had urged had met, he was himself a mem- 
ber, and yet he still stood alone, master only o' 



THE COI^ VENTION OF 1789. 69 

his own personal influence. In the decision of 
the momentous questions he was helpless, for 
the vote of New York was in the hands of his 
enemies and sure to be cast against him on 
every occasion. To have contested every posi- 
tion with his colleagues, and at every trial to 
have voted against his State, would only have 
impaired his standing and injured his cause. 
He, therefore, prudently refrained from the use- 
less and unequal conflict, took comparatively 
little part in the debates on details of the con- 
stitution, and was absent a large part of the 
time from the convention. In conversation 
with the members he could persuade and coun- 
sel, and this he did ; but he wisely decided to 
concentrate all his force in debate in one speech. 
For this purpose he selected at the beginning 
of the convention, after the various plans had 
been submitted, the general theme of a new 
government. Completely master of his subject, 
filled with a deep conviction of the solemnity 
of the occasion, he delivered a speech occupy- 
ing five or six hours, described by Gouverneur 
Morris as the ablest and most impressive he 
ever heard, and embodying all the accumulated 
reflections of years. The brief remains to us, 
and in that bare outline can be readily traced 
the range and variety of the speech. He spoke 
Df the gravity of the occasion, of the choice 



60 ALEXANDER HAMILTON. 

possible to the convention; he reviewed the 
whole science and theory of government, and, 
with an overflowing abundance of illustration 
surveyed the whole domain of historic prece- 
dents ; he showed our low condition, the evils 
of the existing system, and the resulting prin 
eiples on which a new government should hi 
founded. Delivered with all Hamilton's im- 
pressive energy, glowing with the ardor of the 
speaker, and expressed in language at once 
forcible and transparently clear, we may well 
believe that this speech had a profound effect. 
In the course of his argument he read his 
own plan for the new government, carefully 
worked out and perfected. This plan, which 
discloses the essence of his opinions on govern- 
ment, followed in a general way the English 
system as did all others presented, including 
the one finally adopted. In after times Hamil- 
ton was severely reproached with having said 
that the British government was the "best 
model in existence." In 1787 this was a mere 
truism. However much the men of that day 
differed they were all agreed in despising and 
distrusting a pynori constitutions and ideally 
perfect governments, fresh from the brains of 
visionary enthusiasts, such as sprang up rankly 
in the soil of the French revolution. The con- 
tention of 1787 was composed of very able pub- 



HAMILTON'S PLAN OF GOVERNMENT. 61 

ic men of the English-speaking race. They 
took the system of free government with which 
they had been familiar, improved it, adapted it 
to the circumstances with which they had to 
deal, and put it into successful operation. Ham- 
ilton's plan, then, like the others, was on the 
British model, and it did not differ essentially 
in details from that finally adopted. But it 
embodied two ideas which were its cardinal 
features, and which went to the very heart of 
the whole matter. The republic of Hamilton 
was to be an aristocratic as distinguished from 
a democratic republic, and the power of the 
separate States was to be effectually crippled. 
The first object was attained by committing the 
choice of the President and Senators, who were 
to hold office during good behavior, to a class 
of the community qualified to vote by the pes- 
Bession of a certain amount of real property. 
The second was secured by giving to the Pres- 
ident of the United States the appointment of 
the Governors of the various States, who were 
to have a veto on all state legislation. These 
provisions, as may be seen at a glance, involved 
fche essentia] character of the government, and 
although purely republican, came much nearer 
to the British model than anj other by their rec- 
ognition of classes and of the political rights of 
property, while by the treatment of the States 



62 ALEXANDER HAMILTON. 

a highly centralized national government waa 
to supersede entirely the confederate form. In 
the congress of the confederation Hamilton had 
seen that all the difficulties arose from the too 
great power of the States, and further, as he 
believed, from the democratic form of their gov- 
ernments. With his usual bold decision, there- 
fore, he struck at the root of the evils and 
struck hard. Many of the States-rights men 
in the convention dreaded too much democracy, 
when applied to the people of the United States 
collectively, but they were far from approving 
the vigorous ideas of Hamilton. The majority 
of the members undoubtedly favored a demo- 
cratic system in the union, such as they were 
familiar with in their own States. Even those 
who believed with Hamilton, that in the best 
government there should be an infusion of aris- 
tocracy, had no disposition to risk what was 
then deemed the last chance for a respectable 
union, on a scheme which would be hopeless of 
acceptance. There can be no doubt that Ham- 
ilton, with his keen perceptions of existing facts, 
was perfectly aware that the leading principles 
of his plan stood no chance of adoption, either 
by the people or the convention. The aim of his. 
great speech and of his draft of a constitutiou 
was to brace the minds of his fellow members- 
and to stimulate them to taking higher grouno 



2 HE CONVENTION OF 1789. 63 

fcban the majority of their constituents de- 
manded. In this he succeeded. His eloquent 
reasoning, if it did nob lead men to his own 
conclusions, at least raised their tone, enlight- 
ened many members, and brought them to a 
more advanced ground than they were at first 
prepared to take. This was all of great im- 
portance, and to work for such results was, ^i 
Hamilton's isolated position, his wisest course. 
His message once delivered, he waited and 
watched, aiding quietly and effectively when- 
ever he could, but not attempting to thrust 
himself forward, fettered as he was by the ac- 
tion of his own State. His colleagues, how- 
ever, abandoned the convention, and at the 
close Hamilton, not shrinking from the respon- 
sibility of representing alone a State where 
opinions adverse to his own prevailed, once 
more took part in the debates and affixed his 
name and that of New York to the constitu- 
tion. When the end was thus finally reached, 
he sprang once more to the front and gave free 
rein to all his activity and zeal. It was in this 
last decisive struggle, in securing the accept- 
ance of the work of the convention, that Ham- 
ilton rendered his greatest services to the cause 
of the constitution, — services more important 
ind more effective than those of any other 
one man at this last stage of what was in truth 
a great political revolution. 



84 ALEXANDER HAMILTON. 

I have said that Hamilton had no expecta 
fcion of the adoption of his own plan of govern 
nient by the convention, but he none the lesa 
thoroughly believed in it. He thought it bet- 
ter and more enduring than the one actually 
adopted, and he never lost faith in its prin- 
ciples. Indeed, as the distrust of democracy 
disclosed in his plan by the proposition for an 
executive and Senate to be chosen by a quali- 
Scd suffrage, grew and strengthened in the con- 
flicts arising from the French revolution, Ham- 
ilton's confidence in his own theory deepened, 
and his faith in the existing constitution de- 
clined. But when the work was complete at 
Philadelphia, when he had put his name to the 
compromise which he had anticipated, and in 
which he rejoiced, he gave his loyal adherence 
to the new constitution and the new system. 
Had he been an agitator, or a sentimentalist of 
muddy morals and high purposes, a visionary 
and an idealist, he would have stood up and 
howled against this constitution, which was not 
what he wanted, and which fell so far short of 
his own standard. As he was none of these 
things, but a patriotic man of clear and practical 
mind, he knew that the first rule of successful 
and beneficial statesmanship was not to sulk 
because one cannot have just what one wants, 
but to take the best thing obtainable, and sua 



THE CONSTITUTION. 65 

fcain it to the uttermost. In the constitution, 
however imperfect he might think it, lie saw a 
vast improvement and unlimited possibilities, 
Rnd for the adoption and successful working of 
the constitution he prepared to labor with all 
his strength. 

In the country at large, and in most of the 
States, there was a majority against the consti- 
tution, but there it was before them, and the 
people had to make their choice between that 
and anarchy. They did not see the alternative 
quite so plainly as we do now, but that they 
felt it is shown by the fact that while a large 
majority longed to say " No," a very narrow 
majority in eleven States did say "Yes." The 
choice thus forced upon the people by the sub- 
mission of the constitution did away almost 
everywhere with the miserable indifference 
which had become the prevailing sentiment 
in regard to all things national. Parties be- 
gan to spring up, the press teemed with con- 
troversial essays and letters, and more em- 
phatic marks of interest, in the shape of rioting 
and burning in effigy, were not wanting. 

New York was not the most important of the 
States, either in wealth or population. In these 
respects she was surpassed by Virginia, Massa- 
chusetts, and Pennsylvania and hei adhesion 
\o the new scheme was considered much less 



^6 ALEXANDER HAMILTON. 

vital than theirs. But in geographical posi 
tion, capable as she was of dividing New Eng. 
land from the middle and southern States, Ne-w 
York had great importance, and almost made 
up in this way what she lacked in wealth and 
population. Her assent to the new scheme thua 
became of great moment, and it was very diflB- 
cult to gain. In New York party feeling had 
always run higher than elsewhere, and it was 
now extremely bitter. The opposition there to 
the new constitution was stronger, more com- 
pact, and better led, and had a more active, 
powerful, and unscrupulous chief than in any 
other State. In the city of New York a society 
was formed to resist the adoption of the consti- 
tution by the state convention ; and there, very 
soon after its signature, a concerted attempt 
was made in the Clintonian interest to write 
down the new scheme in a series of connected 
and well-planned essays. This was a gage of 
battle which Hamilton was ready enough to 
take up. He asked nothing better than to de- 
bate the question before the tribunal of public 
opinion. The challenge was promptly accepted, 
and tbe reply came in the form of a letter 
signed '' Publius," written in the cabin of a lit- 
tle vessel, as Hamilton was gliding quietly down 
the tranquil current of the Hudson River. The 
work thus begun extended over many weeks, $ 



''THE FEDERALIST :' 67 

new number appearing, as a rule, every three 
days. In the midst of the most pressing avoca- 
tions, both public and professional, Hamilton 
always found a moment in which to turn his 
ready pen to the vindication of the constitu- 
tion, so that the series might never be inter- 
rupted. In this great work he was much as- 
sisted by Madison and slightly by Jay, both of 
whom brought ability, training, and sound sense 
to the task. There has been some controversy 
as to the proportionate share of these eminent 
men in this undertaking, but the discussion ia 
of little moment. The original conception waa ^ >J/ 
Hamilton's, he wrote considerably more than ^<^"~^ 
half the numbers, and to posterity " Publius " 
will always be Hamilton. This remarkable 
series of essays, famous as '' The Federalist," 
is still the best exposition of the constitution 
apart from judicial interpretation. " The Fed- 
eralist," throughout the length and breadth of 
the United States, did more than anything else 
that was either written or spoken to secure the 
adoption of the new scheme ; but it was some- 
thing more far-reaching than a timely and prac- 
tical piece of argument. The countless pam- 
phlets, essays, disquisitions, and letters which 
saw the light at the same time have disap- 
peared. They have been consigned to the dust- 
heaps of history, and the waters of oblivion have 



68 ALEXANDER HAMILTON. 

rolled over them. But the " Federalist " still 
Btands. No one will deny that it is dry, and that 
it is not calculated to amuse an idle hour, but 
the " Novum Organum," the " Leviathan," the 
"Fragment on Government," are not easy read- 
ing, and yet they are intellectual possessions 
highly prized and not to be parted with. As an 
exposition of the meaning and purposes of the 
constitution, " The Federalist " is now and al- 
ways will be cited on the bench and at the bar, 
by American commentators, and by all writers on 
constitutional law. As a treatise on the princi- 
ples of federal government it still stands at the 
head, and has been turned to as an authority by 
the leading minds of Germany intent on the 
formation of the Germanic Empire. In a word, 
" The Federalist " marks an epoch in the de- 
velopment of free constitutional government, 
in the art of confederation, and in political 
thought. On these essays Hamilton's fame as 
a writer has always rested and must always 
vest, although many of his other political pa- 
pers are of equal ability and force. 

The immediate results of " The Federalist " 
T7ere so important that its literary merits have 
been somewhat overlooked. These essays have, 
in fact, become so firmly imbedded in our polit 
ical history that their place in our literature 
has been forgotten. The development of co 



''THE FEDERALIST'' 6£ 

ionial literature was rudely arrested by the 
troubles with England and by the conflict of 
the ReAolution, when the intellectual force of 
the community was wholly absorbed by politics 
and war. After the peace, constitutional and 
political questions, and the struggle for material 
prosperity, engaged exclusively the mental en- 
ergies of the people. The result was that we 
had absolutely no literature except the litera- 
ture of politics. This presented, of course, a 
very restricted field, and literature of this sort, 
that is, literature with an object and as a means 
to an end instead of one cultivated purely for 
its own sake, can never be of the highest order 
In this single branch, however, the standard 
was very high. The genius of the people in 
this direction was strong and keen, and their 
faculties had been sharpened still further by 
the long controversy with the mother country, 
in which the talent displayed by the arguments 
of the colonists upon constitutional points, and 
the ability of the American State papers had 
extorted the admiration of the leading minds 
ktf England. It may be safely said that in 
dealing with questions of politics and govern- 
aaent the people of the United States were 
,4econd to no other nation. When a man en- 
tered the arena of political discussion he not 
only encountered vigorous opponents and com- 



10 ALEXANDER HAMILTON. 

pe titers, but he appealed to a public whose 
judgment on these particular subjects waa 
highly trained. In this literature the essays of 
'* The Federalist " take the first place. They ex- 
hibit a wide range of information ; their reason- 
ing is strong, their style is simple, forcible, and 
clear ; they were admirably adapted to their pur- 
pose, and above all they have endured, for they 
were a fresh and original contribution to human 
knowledge and to the best thought of the time. 
The conception of " The Federalist," and the 
lion's share of the essays, belong to Hamilton, 
and entitle him to the first place in the litera- 
ture of the day. This is especially true if we 
take " The Federalist," in connection with his 
other writings in various forms and at different 
times, but always upon kindred topics. Ham- 
ilton has won in this way an important posi- 
tion in the literary history of America. It may 
be fairly said that his work takes the first 
rank in the only literature of the time. When 
it is remembered that he was also a busy law- 
yer, an active politician, and a great statesman, 
this is high praise, even if the literature in 
which he was foremost was nothing more than 
the literature of politics. 

By the publication of the " Federalist," Hani= 
ilton rendered his first preeminent service t<f 
the adoption of the constitution ; his second 



THE NEW YORK CONVENTION. 71 

was by securing the adhesion of New York. 
Clinton had failed to prevent the call of a state 
convention by the legislature, where the Fed- 
eralists prevailed after a sharp struggle ; but 
now that the last decisive conflict was upon 
\vm he gathered all his forces and prepared for 
battle. He triumphed without serious trouble 
in the election of delegates, and found himself 
master of forty-six out of sixty-five votes when 
the convention, which chose him to be their 
president, assembled. The Clintonian majority 
was led by Melancthon Smith, a keen debater 
and a man of ability, and by Yates and Lan- 
sing, Hamilton's colleagues at Philadelphia. 
The slender minority of nineteen was headed 
by Hamilton, ably supported by Jay and Liv- 
ingston. "Two thirds of the convention and 
four sevenths of the people are against us," 
wrote Hamilton, as he surveyed the unpleasing 
prospect, anxious and grave, but full of cour- 
age. The outlook was in truth disheartening, 
but we may well imagine that Hamilton felt in- 
stinctively the coming victory, that he rejoiced 
like the strong man to run the race hopeless as 
it seemed, and that he prized the laurels to be 
vvon all the more on account of the odds which 
confronted him, and the hard fight which must 
be fought. The first issue was on postpone- 
ment. The Clintonians urged delay, in order 



72 ALEXANDER HAMILTON. 

to see the experiment tried, to be guided by the 
other States, to examine further the scheme, 
and so on with all the excuses of procrastina- 
tion. Their ground was shrewdly chosen, but 
the Federalists met the issue boldly, and when 
it came to a vote, even the devoted partisans of 
the Governor shrank from settling the momen- 
tous question by evasion, and postponement 
was defeated. Then the work of the Philadel- 
phia convention was taken up, sharply debated, 
and minutely scrutinized in every clause and 
paragraph. Day after day Hamilton was on 
his feet upholding the cause of the constitution. 
Every opinion which he had expressed was 
turned and twisted into a weapon of personal 
attack, and he was constantly assailed as if he 
and the constitution were one. Defending and 
explaining his own position without weakening 
his cause, he debated every point and met his 
vigorous opponents in constant battle. No de- 
tail was too small to be dealt with, no flight was 
too distant for him to take. Filled with his 
subject, thoroughly familiar with all that could 
be said on both sides, he reasoned and pleaded, 
exhausting every resource of argument. When 
the constitution had been thus reviewed it could 
be seen how his work had told. The opposing 
forces faced each other for some days in com- 
plete inaction. The Clintonians, despite theii 



THE NEW YORK CONVENTION. 73 

majority, dreaded to come to a direct vote, un- 
certain as to the precise effect of Hamilton's 
arguments. The Federalists, who had been 
fighting for time and knew that time was work- 
ing with them, were in no haste to move. Nine 
States had ratified. The experiment would 
surely be tried, and presently came the news 
that Virginia had assented* The old policy of 
evasion was once more attempted by moving 
an adjournment and was again defeated. Then 
came a long string of amendments and a pro- 
posal for conditional ratification. Hamilton 
met this in a brilliant speech, and Melancthon 
Smith confessed that conditional ratification 
was absurd. The end was near. A short inter- 
val elapsed, and then Melancthon Smith ad- 
mitted that he had been convinced by Hamil- 
ton, and that he should vote for the constitution. 
This was the signal for a break, and when the 
vote was taken the constitution had a majority 
of three in its favor. Bearing with him these 
joyful tidings Hamilton hastened to take his 
Beat in Congress, to which he had been elected 
Bome months before despite a vindictive opposi- 
tion on the part of the Governor. 

This New York convention was an epoch in 
Hamilton's life. It so chanced that in the years 
which remained to him he had no opportunity 
after this to take part in a great debate. His 



74 ALEXANDER HAMILTON. 

eloquence found vent repeatedly, of course^ at 
the bar and in public meetings, but never again 
in convention or in Congress. Thus it happens 
that his legislative career closed when he was 
barely thirty, and yet he had attained the very 
first rank as a parliamentary orator. This fact 
IS as rare as it is remarkable, for high position 
of this sort is usually the crown of a life spent 
in legislative debate. Hamilton's case is an 
almost solitary instance of a man's achieving 
this difficult reputation while the work which 
was to stamp him as one of the great legisla- 
tors and statesmen of his country still lay be- 
fore him. This sounds like mere panegyric, 
but a little consideration shows that it is only 
the simple truth. Hamilton's victory in secur- 
ing New York came at a time when the land 
was filled with debate and discussion ; when 
besides the national convention at Philadelphia 
there were twelve state conventions, and when 
all the talent of the nation was called into con- 
spicuous action. That under such circumstances 
one state convention should be obscured is 
hardly to be wondered at, and thus the magni- 
tude of Hamilton's success simply as an achieve- 
ment of parliamentary skill and eloquence has 
been lost sight of. In New York the difficul- 
ties were greater than elsewhere. The hardest 
struggles in other States were in the two great 



THE NEW YORK CONVENTION. 76 

commonwealths of Massachusetts and Virginia. 
In the former, however, all the ability of the 
State was banded together to sustain the con- 
stitution ; by skilful tactics Samuel Adams and 
John Hancock, the great leaders of the State- 
rights party, were disarmed and partially con- 
verted, so that those who confronted the Fed- 
eralists in actual conflict were very inferior 
men. In Virginia the ability was pretty equally 
divided between the contending parties, but the 
opposition was much less stubborn and unrea- 
sonable than in New York or Massachusetts, 
while the Federalists had the inestimable ad- 
vantage of Washington's enormous personal in- 
fluence. In New York, if we exclude Hamil- 
ton, the preponderance of ability was with the 
Governor, who in political strength and man- 
agement was a host in himself. The majority 
against the constitution was very large, care- 
fully disciplined and counted, compact, and ably 
led. This majority Hamilton overcame by open 
debate. He changed votes by his untiring suc- 
cession of brilliant speeches, and when party 
lines are drawn there is nothing so rare as such 
a feat in all the long records of parliamentary 
contests. He did this, too, in the midst of con- 
tinued personal attacks, which he was compelled 
not only to ward off but to keep distinct from 
his cause. It is true that circumstances worked 



76 ALEXANDER HAMILTON. 

with him, but this was part of his campaign 
and that the pressure caused by the accession ol 
other States was not necessarily decisive, is 
shown by the postponement of the question in 
North Carolina and the refusal to call a conven- 
tion in Rhode Island. Any one familiar with 
legislative bodies and with parliamentary his- 
tory can appreciate the meaning and weight of 
the confession wrung from the leader of the 
majority, when he admitted that he had been 
convinced by Hamilton on a question which 
had agitated the public mind for months and 
on which party feeling had run high. Tried by 
the severest test, that of winning votes, Hamil- 
ton's victory is of the highest rank in the an- 
nals of modern oratory. 

That the new States were almost painfully 
deficient in nearly everything which gave re- 
finement to the old world civilization, in art, in 
literature, in philosophy, in social splendor, can- 
not be doubted ; but in politics, constitutions 
of government, and public law they were more 
advanced than any other people ; and in capac- 
ity and skill in parliamentary debate and po- 
litical controversy they were as well versed and 
as keen as their brethren of the House of Com- 
mons. In this field, therefore, Hamilton can be 
measured by standards as high as any then in 
existence, and can be compared with any of hia 



THE NEW YORK CONVENTION. 77 

contemporaries on either side of the water. His 
many speeches have perished, for there were 
no short-hand reporters , he spoke extempora- 
neously from the stores of an overflowing mind, 
and only meagre outlines of arguments and 
striking sentences condensed to the last point 
remain. Yet it is not difficult to analyze the 
qualities which made Hamilton a great orator. 
Concerning the intrinsic merit of what he said, 
there is no need to go farther than the essays 
of the " Federalist," to learn that they were 
profound expositions of the principles of con- 
stitutional law and of the state of public affairs. 
In the same essays, or in any other of Hamil- 
ton's pamphlets or reports, we can also find 
that he set forth his ideas with wonderful clear- 
ness, directness, and force, often with intense 
compression, at times with a great variety of 
illustration. All these attributes avail much 
to clear men's minds of error and to convince 
them of truth. But behind the lucid reasoning 
and the nervous expression there must have 
been something more, some qualities which 
moved men's hearts. Inconceivable as it seems 
with such topics, we yet know from eye-wit- 
nesses that Hamilton moved his hearers to 
tears. What was it that could do this? Tc 
stir an indiscriminate crowd to tempests of grief 
or rage is not an uncommon power • to move tc 



f8 ALEXANDER HAMILTON. 

ieep emotion a legislative body, in this in- 
stance, of course, largely Jiostile and made up 
of picked men, is an extraordinary feat. From 
Hamilton's letters and essays, indeed, from 
eyerytliing he ever wrote, we know that he was 
not a man of strong or fertile imagination. He 
would never have pictured a coalition by de- 
scribing the junction of the Rhone and Saone 
with a felicity of expression which was startling 
in its vivid exactness, or held his hearers breath- 
less as he drew the fanciful retrospect of the 
aged Bathurst. In a period when tropes, met- 
aphors, and images were fashionable, Hamilton 
dealt but little in them. With him thoughts 
and sentences are alike simple, strong, and 
straightforward, and these he used effectively 
and convincingly, not by delighting the imag- 
ination and beguiling the fancy but by commu- 
nicating through his words, voice, and manner 
his own spirit. That he had pathos, sympathy, 
and depth of feeling, can be seen in the Andre 
letters, and these qualities did him good ser- 
vice ; but that which led him to victory was the 
passionate energy of his nature, his absorption 
in his work, his contagious and persuasive en- 
thusiasm. He rises before us from the past 
small in stature, but erect and graceful, and by 
the art of the chisel and the brush, we can see 
the firm, strong iaw, noble head, long, straight 



THE NEW YORK CONVENTION. 79 

nose, and most effective of all the dark, deep- 
set eyes. We can easily imagine how he looked, 
with his eyes glowing and flashing as he be^ 
came excited, and how his full melodious voice 
rang out, compelling the attention of all who 
listened. 

Hamilton's speeches in the New York con- 
vention do not live on the lips of school-boys. 
They suffered from having been spoken in a 
Bmall state convention at a time when eleven 
other similar assemblies were held. They had 
none of the splendor which came to Pitt and 
Burke from their forum ; none of the glitter of 
the gorgeous pageant which gathered in West- 
minster Hall to listen to the wrongs of the Be- 
gums ; none of the national lustre which en- 
circled Ames when he shook Congress with 
dread at the prospect of war with England, 
or Clay when he denounced the Essex junto, or 
W^ebster when he upheld the cause of the Union. 
Yet if we try Hamilton's speeches by the se- 
verest tests, by the conversion he wrought, by 
the sustained power, the readiness, fertility, and 
resource he displayed, and above all by o-e- 
suits, this series of speeches in the New York 
convention deserves to rank with the highest 
triumphs of moderu parliamentary oratory, 
This at least was the opinion of his contempo- 
raries, both friends and f 3es. In the grand pro- 



80 ALEXANDER HAMILTON. 

cession by which the Federalists of New York 
celebrated their victory, the federal frigate was 
named the " Hamilton," while the opponents of 
khe constitution assailed him for using such con- 
summate art in oratory that he blinded, hood- 
winked, and misled his hearers, preventing their 
voting in accordance with their real convic- 
tions, so bewitched were they by the magic 
of his words. No greater compliment could 
have been paid him ; and when his bitterest 
enemies ranked his eloquence so highly, pos- 
terity may fitly adjudge its place to be among 
the first. 

The great battle had been fought and won, 
but much remained to be done. The demands 
of New York and Virginia for a new conven- 
tion to amend the constitution must be evaded, 
and officers of the new government who were 
sound Federalists must be chosen. Hamilton 
carried through Congress the ordinance fixing 
the dates and the place for putting the new 
government in operation, and then turned his 
attention to New York. His reward was defeat 
for reelection for the unexpired term of the old 
Congress. For Clinton, though beaten, held 
his men together in an extraordinary way, and 
with an unyielding grasp. The Federalists con- 
dolled the Senate, but Clinton had the House 
wnen the New York legislature assembled. The 



THE NEW YORK ELECTIONS. 81 

result was an obstinate dead-lock, and New 
York was unrepresented in the first electoral 
colleges, and had no Senators when the new 
Congress met. The state elections soon fol- 
lowed, and Hamilton flung himself heart and 
ioul into the campaign. Yates was nominated 
by the Federalists, as a moderate man able to 
draw votes from the other side, and Hamilton 
supported him eagerly and eloquently with voice 
and pen in the newspapers and on the platform. 
This choice of a candidate was due to Hamilton, 
and it may well be doubted whether he would 
not have done better if he had nominated some 
steady Federalist. He would certainly have 
strengthened his party, but he was probably 
led to select Yates by the desire to win at all 
hazards. His hatred of Clinton probably 
blinded his judgment, which, whenever it went 
astray, was warped by the energy of his per- 
sonal feelings. At all events the doughty Gov- 
ernor prevailed once more, despite the exertions 
of his enemies, but his power was broken. His 
majority was a very narrow one, and the leg- 
islature was in favor of the constitution. Thia 
gave the Senators to the Federalists, and by 
most desperate efforts they succeeded in choos- 
ing four of the six representadves in Congress. 
The election of the Senators was marked by 
one of those errors into which Hamilton waa 



82 ALEXANDER HAMILTON. 

led on one or two memorable occasions by hia 
imperious will and headstrong disposition. Up 
to this time the Livingstons, one of the ruling 
families in New York, had acted with and given 
powerful aid to the friends of the constitution. 
They cheerfully conceded one senatorship to 
Schuyler, but they and others like Morgan 
Lewis desired the other, as it is said, for some 
New York man of their faction, and they were 
especially opposed to King, whom Hamilton 
had settled upon as Schuyler's colleague. ^ Ru- 
fus King was an eminent and able man, but he 
had just come from Massachusetts, and could 
not in the nature of things have had any follow- 
ing of his own. Hamilton, nevertheless, per- 
sisted, and King was chosen. The result was 
a rupture with the Livingstons, which was the 
probable cause of the defeat of Schuyler two 
years later, and of the election of Burr. King 
was no doubt an abler man than any of his 
competitors, but the Livingston alliance was 
very important to the Federalists, and it was a 
blunder to throw it away. Hamilton had, in 
fact, no genius for management, and his beset- 
ting danger was in his desire to force things 
through, and in his impatience of delay or oX 
eoncession, when dealing with other men. Ic 
^his case his imprudence brought strength U 
1 Morgan Lewis to Hamilton, June 24, 1789, MS. letter. 



THE NEW GOVERNMENT. 83 

Burr, and was the beginning of liis many 
troubles in New York politics. 

Meanwhile, the day had come, the eventful 
4th of March fixed for the assembling of the 
new Congress. The evil habits of the old con- 
federacy still clung to national affairs to such 
a degree that a quorum of both Houses was not 
obtained until April 6th. Then the votes were 
opened and counted, and George Washington 
was declared to be President by a unanimous 
vote, and John Adams, who had received the 
next highest number, obtained the Vice-Presi- 
dency. Washington and Adams on being in- 
formed of their election proceeded by slow 
stages to New York, where they were sworn in 
and the government was fairly organized. The 
great experiment was at last on trial. 



CHAPTER V. 

IHB TREASUBY AND THE FINANCIAL POLICY 

Although early spring saw the actual forma- 
tion of the government of the United States, it 
was not until September 2d that the act passed 
establishing the Treasury Department. All 
eyes were turned to Hamilton as the man to 
fill this great office. Washington had already 
decided upon him, and Robert Morris had 
singled him out as the statesman suited above 
all others for the trying position which he him- 
self had filled under the confederacy. Advisers 
were not wanting, tried friends and admirers, 
like Troup and Gouverneur Morris, who warned 
Hamilton of the trials he was about to en- 
counter, and of the thorny path he must tread. 
They had reason enough on their side. Despite 
his politics, Hamilton, benefiting like other 
young patriots by the law excluding Tories 
from practice in the courts, had raised himself 
to a leading position at the bar, and had wealth 
and reputation within easy reach. All this 
quiet and assured prosperity must be sacrificed 
for a post beset with difficulties, of unceasing 



THE TREASURY. 85 

toil, and with a paltry salary of thirty-five 
hundred dollars a year. There is, however, no 
indication that Hamilton wavered for a moment 
in his decision. He was convinced that he 
could render his best service to his country at 
the head of the Treasury, and he at once ac- 
cepted the high ofiice. It could not have been 
otherwise. His time had come, the great epoch 
of his life, and it was impossible to escape his 
destiny. He was only thirty-two years old, in 
the flower of his age and with the flush of youth 
upon him. The weapons which he had been 
forging for years hung at last complete and 
glittering before his eyes, and he was the last 
man to refuse to gird on the sword and draw it 
in the cause of good government. 

Ten days after Hamilton's appointment Con- 
gress directed him to prepare a report upon the 
public credit, but this order, which led to the 
development of his whole financial policy, was 
only one of the many tasks allotted to him. It 
is not a little amusing to note how eagerly 
Congress, which had been ably and honestly 
struggling with the revenue, with commerce, 
and with a thousand details, fettered in all 
things by the awkwardness inherent in a legis- 
lative body, turned for relief to the new Secre- 
tary. They knew Hamilton's reputation and 
his perfect familiarity with theories of finance 



86 ALEXANDER HAMILTON. 

and government, and they seem to have felt in 
Btinctively that he was a great minister of state 
with a well-defined policy for every exigency. 
In the course of a year he was asked to report, 
and did report, with full details, upon the rais- 
ing, management, and collection of the revenue, 
including a scheme for revenue cutters ; as to 
estimates of income and expenditure , as to the 
temporary regulation of the chaotic currency ; 
as to navigation laws and the regulation of the 
coasting trade, after thorough consideration of 
a heap of undigested statistics ; as to the post- 
ofiice, for which he drafted a bill ; as to the pur- 
chase of West Point ; on the great question of 
public lands, and a uniform system of dealing 
with them, and upon all claims against the gov- 
ernment. Rapidly and effectively the Secretary 
dealt with all these matters, besides drawing up 
as a voluntary suggestion a scheme for a judi- 
cial system. But in addition to all this multi- 
plicity of business there were other matters, 
like the temporary regulation of the currency, 
requiring peremptory settlement. Money had 
to be found for the immediate and pressing 
wants of the new government before any sys- 
tem had been or could be adopted, and the only 
resources were the empty treasury and broken 
credit of the old confederacy. By one ingen- 
ious expedient or another, sometimes by pledg 



THE TREASURY. 87 

ing his own credit, Hamilton got together what 
was absolutely needful, and without a murmur 
conquered these petty troubles at the very time 
when he was elaborating and devising a far- 
reaching policy. Then the whole financial ma- 
chine of the Treasury Department, and a sys- 
tem of accounting, demanded instant attention. 
These intricate problems were solved at once, 
the machine constructed, and the system of ac- 
counts devised and put in operation, and so 
well were these difficult tasks performed that 
they still subsist, developing and growing with 
the nation, but at bottom the original arrange- 
ments of Hamilton. These complicated ques- 
tions, answered so rapidly and yet so accurately 
in the first weeks of confusion incident to the 
establishment of a new government, show a 
familiarity and preparation as well as a readi- 
ness of mind of a most unusual kind. Yet 
while Hamilton was engaged in all this bewil- 
dering work, he was evolving the great finan- 
cial policy at once broad, comprehensive, and 
minute, and after the recess in January he laid 
his ground plan before Congress in his first 
report upon the public credit, a state paper 
which marks an era in American history, and 
by which the massive corner-stone from which 
the great structure of the federal government 
has risen, was securel}^ laid. 



68 ALEXANDER HAMILTON. 

It was with this report that Hamilton en- 
tered upon the most important part of his career, 
and at the same time upon the period in which 
he impressed his individuality strongly upon the 
history and development of the United States. 
The first report on the public credit was not 
only the beginning of a remarkable financial 
scheme, which achieved a brilliant practical suc- 
cess, but with its successors which came quickly 
after it from the fertile mind at the head of 
the treasury, it carried out a far-reaching policy 
which affected, as it came to maturity, the char- 
acter of the whole government, built up and 
welded together a powerful party, and founded 
a school of political thought which still endures 
and has always exercised a profound influence 
on our material growth and our political and 
constitutional system. Up to this time, great 
and valuable as Hamilton's services had been, 
they were simply those of a man of remarkable 
ability, having no peculiar mark about them. 
The intellect and personality of Hamilton have 
not left their stamp and superscription upon the 
constitution as it went from the Philadelphia 
convention, but upon the government, the pub- 
lic policy, the political system which grew up 
jnder the constitution, they made an indelible 
impression in those early and plastic years, and 
c^ne which has never been effaced. In a word 



FIRST REPORT ON THE PUBLIC CREDIT. 89 

when Hamilton sent in his report on the pub- 
lic credit in January, 1790, from being a dis- 
tinguished man he became also a typical leader, 
and, most important of all, an essential element 
in our history. 

To attempt to give an abstract of this report 
would be labor wasted. With all his lucidity of 
statement, Hamilton was always concise, es- 
pecially in his communications to Congress, and 
to such a degree, that further condensation is 
out of the question. But to understand Ham- 
ilton and his influence as a great factor at the 
dawn of the history of the United States, it is 
sufficient to lay bare the main principles of his 
report. In these we can obtain the intent and 
significance of his policy, and then compare it 
with its results. After setting forth in general 
but striking terms the necessity of public credit, 
not merely as a means of raising money, but as 
an element of national greatness, and after 
dwelling on the need of the most rigid honor in 
all things connected with financial dealings, 
Hamilton states in a few curt sentences the ob- 
jects to be attained. He says: — 

" To justify and preserve the confidence of the 
most enlightened friends of good government ; to pro- 
mote the increasing respectability of the American 
Dame ; to answer the calls of justice ; to restore 
\anded property to its due value ; to furnish new re- 



90 ALEXANDER HAMILTON. 

lourees both to agriculture and commerce ; to cement 
more closely the union of the States ; to add to their 
Becurity against foreign attack ; to establish public 
yrderonihe basis of an upright and liberal policy ; — 
these are the great and invaluable ends to be secured 
by a proper and adequate provision, at the present 
period, for the support of public credit." 

I have italicized the two sentences which 
Beem to me to embody the most essential points 
of the whole policy. The cardinal doctrines of 
Hamilton, in questions of politics and govern- 
ment, were strength and order. The more in- 
timate union of the States, effected by a com- 
mon interest in the solvency and maintenance 
of a common government, was a sure instrument 
to promote strength. This was plain and is 
plainly stated, but the general expression, " to 
establish public order on the basis of an upright 
and liberal policy," covers, whether intention- 
ally or not, a world of meaning, which finds ex- 
planation in the whole course of Hamilton's 
career and of his political thought. Public or- 
der usually is the condition precedent of sound 
finances. Here it is made the consequence. By 
the regulation of the finances, not only the 
strength of the government was to be increased, 
but public order was to be established. It was, 
In truth, the old idea which held a leading 
place in Hamilton's youthful scheme of a bank 



FIRST REPORT ON THE PUBLIC CREDIT, 91 

of building up a strong party in support of the 
government. This was not merely to invig- 
orate an existing political party or to evolve a 
new one, although such a result was incidental, 
important, and expected. Hamilton's scheme 
went farther, seeking to create a strong, and, 
so far as was possible and judicious, a perma- 
nent class all over the country, without regard 
to existing political aflBliations, but bound to 
the government as a government by the strong- 
est of all ties, immediate and personal pecuni- 
ary interest. The wisdom of this was obvious, 
when the object was to sustain a great experi- 
ment ; yet at the same time Hamilton's pur- 
pose was not simply by the spread of a pop- 
ular loan to unite a numerous body of men 
in the support of the government, but chiefly 
and mainly to bring to his side a class already 
in existence, that which controlled the capital 
of the country. The full intent of the policy 
was to array property on the side of the gov- 
ernment. That once done, the experiment, 
Hamilton felt, would succeed, and its powers, 
moreover, might then be much extended. He 
had been unable to introduce a class influence 
into the constitution by limiting the suffrage 
for the President and Senate with a property 
qualification, but by his financial policy he could 
bind the existing class of wealthy men, compris- 



92 ALEXANDER HAMILTON. 

ing at that day the aristocracy bequeathed b^ 
provincial times to the new system, and thus, 
if at all, assure to the property of the country 
the control of the government. 

The method by w^hich these great ends were 
to be reached, as well as the others, hardly 
less important, which are also set forth in the 
sentence quoted above, was by funding and 
consolidating all the debts of the United States 
incurred in the war or growing out of it. The 
most immediate practical gain which Hamilton 
promised himself in this was, that the funds 
would supply that deficiency of a circulating 
medium under which the country labored, and 
this point he argued at length and with great 
ability. He proposed several schemes for fund- 
ing, comprising various forms of annuities and 
of payment in order to attract all classes of 
creditors. Into these financial details it is not 
necessary to enter. To fund the whole debt at 
the existing rates of interest, he believed to be 
beyond the power of the country at that mo- 
ment, and in view of the great improvement to 
be effected, and the appreciation of the debt 
which had already taken place, he demanded 
present concessions from the creditors. To use 
a modern phrase, he offered long bonds at a low 
rate of interest, four per cent., and short bonds 
at six per cent. He proposed to pay two tbirdi 



FIRST REPORT ON THE PUBLIC CREDIT 93 

of the debt in the new funds, to bear interest at 
once, and the remainder in land, or in funds 
which should bear the same rates of interest at 
some future time. The propositions were hon- 
orable and practicable, and involved ultimate 
full payment, so that to creditors who had gen- 
erally begun to regard their loans as hopelessly 
lost, they must have seemed positively brilliant. 
Hamilton further proposed a sinking fund, which, 
was to be made up at the outset from a new loan 
of ten millions placed in the hands of commis- 
sioners for the purchase of certain classes of the 
debt, and for otherwise facilitating the finan- 
cial operation of the government, and which 
was also to be the receptacle of all savings 
and surplus, and thus provide for the accumu- 
lation of the means necessary to meet and ex- 
tinguish the debt as it became due. This was 
nothing more than the ordinary sinking fund, 
as it is used and understood at the present day, 
not only in all civilized governments, but in 
innumerable corporations. It was merely a 
means to provide for actual savings to be ap- 
plied to the extinction of debt. But coming at 
a time when Pitt was using " sinking fund " as 
a term to conjure with^ and by ingenious cal- 
culations of the rates of interest was perfecting 
a juggle which served to blind a whole genera- 
tion of Englishmen, and which actually led them 



94 ALEXANDER HAMILTON, 

to believe that debts could be extinguished, not 
by payment, but by further borrowing, this ar- 
rangement is interesting from its business-like 
simplicity and sense. There was nothing of 
Pitt's ingenuity about Hamilton's plan. To 
him the sinking fund was a convenient business 
device; nothing more. He had too keen a 
mind to be deceived himself, and he had no 
wish to confuse and befool others. His finan- 
cial schemes were to be truthful and genuine, 
if nothing else, and he put forth his scheme of 
funding and sinking, not as the incantation of 
an enchanter, by which debts could be paid with- 
out saving, but as business-like arrangements 
by which honor could be restored, honesty and 
reputation retrieved, the nation strengthened, 
and the debt, so long as the necessary evil of 
its existence endured, become, by taking on a 
new form, a blessing instead of a curse to the 
business interests and moral tone of the whole 
country. 

Such, in brief outline, were the objects at 
which Hamilton aimed, and the means by 
which he hoped to compass them. Nothing 
remained but to determine the subject-matter 
to be dealt with ; and here came the crucial 
question of what constituted the debt of the 
United States. Few men questioned the value 
of the purposes set forth by Hamilton, for on 



THE DEBT OF THE UNITED STATES. 95 

the surface, and, in most cases from any point 
of view, they commended themselves to the 
hearty support of all sensible men. There were 
few, too, who objected to Hamilton's mode of 
funding ; although at a later time in his career 
and also since it has all passed into history, 
there has been some hostile criticism on this 
point, which I shall refer to again. But as to 
what constituted the debt, there were imme- 
diate, wide, and bitter differences of opinion re- 
sulting in the first great political struggle of 
the United States, and laying deep and solid 
foundations of party divisions. Hamilton di- 
vided the debt into three parts: the foreign 
debt, the domestic debt, and the debts of the 
States incurred in the cause of the union dur- 
ing the war of the Revolution. All these to- 
gether amounted in round numbers to above 
eighty millions, — hardly more than Mr. Sher- 
man recently saved in a twelvemonth in the in- 
terest account of the United States, but a very 
terrible sum in the year 1790. Every one was 
agreed about the foreign debt ; every one was 
likewise agreed as to paying the domestic debt, 
but there were wide differences as to how and 
to whom this latter payment sJiould be made. 
These two classes covered about fifty-four mil- 
lions of the debt • and then came the state 
debts, amounting to twenty-five millions, very 



96 ALEXANDER HAMILTON, 

unevenly distributed, bristling with opposing 
interests, the great bone of contention, and a 
subject of long and sore conflict. Thus the 
work was mapped out, and Hamilton con- 
cluded his report with estimates of ways and 
means, a scheme for raising revenue by duties 
on teas, wines, and spirits, and in the back- 
ground a plan for an excise. 

Before discussing the fate of this great report 
and its momentous political results, it is best to 
review briefly the other reports which followed 
close upon it, and were in reality parts of one 
comprehensive scheme. In this way the whole 
broad financial policy of Hamilton comes into 
view, and all the causes being thus understood 
and grouped together, it becomes far easier to 
appreciate the effects upon the country and 
upon its history. 

The assumption of the state debts made an 
increase of revenue absolutely necessary, and at 
the close of the year 1790 Hamilton took the 
next step in perfecting his policy by sending to 
Congress his second report on the public credit, 
urging the establishment of an excise which he 
had already suggested, but which had been laid 
iiside. Some additions he showed could be made 
to the duties imposed, but these were insufficient 
and it became necessary to raise revenue else- 
where. Hamilton's general theory was to havi 



THE EXCISE. 97 

as little direct taxation as possible, and to raise 
as mucli revenue from articles of luxury as was 
consistent with successful collection. Having 
carried the duties on imports as high as he felt 
they would bear, he turned naturally to the 
domestic manufacture of spirits as the best 
and most proper resource. No one now will 
question that by all the best principles of polit- 
ical economy Hamilton was right in his choice, 
and that he selected the most appropriate sub- 
ject for taxation. The revenue being essential, 
this was the least burdensome way to raise it, 
and the subject was one which in its nature 
should always be taxed before anything else, 
and as heavily as it will bear. On economic 
principles, the excise on spirits suggested by 
Hamilton requires neither explanation nor de- 
fence. The real difficulty was political not 
economical. It was true that excises had been 
laid and collected by several of the States with- 
out objection. Hamilton in fact cited these pre- 
cedents, but to the popular mind they were not 
precedents at all, for the people did not try tax- 
ation by the States according to the principles 
which they applied in judging of taxation by 
the general government. An excise laid by the 
States was like all other tax3s ; an excise laid 
by the general government met in the popular 
Peeling the famous definition given to it by Dr 



98 ALEXANDER HAMILTON. 

Johnson. The attempt to raise an internal rev- 
zsnue had led to the Revolution. The goven?- 
ment of England was external, and the conse- 
quent hatred of government of that description 
combined v^ith States rights had proved the ruin 
of the confederation, and was the greatest men- 
ace to the new union. The old confederate gov- 
ernment had laid, or had attempted to lay du- 
ties ; the new government was formed for that 
purpose, and to the customs which everybody 
expected there was no objection. But although 
the right of the central government under the 
constitution to lay an excise was perfectly clear, 
it seemed to come from an external government ; 
it was new and unexpected, and was calculated 
to rekindle the slumbering animosity against 
anything resembling external power, and to re- 
vive all the old jealousy of the States-rights 
party. All this Hamilton saw plainly enough 
He endeavored to disarm opposition by a care 
'ul diminution of the hated powers of the offi- 
cers of the excise, taking from them their usua. 
summary jurisdiction and carefully limiting 
their right of search. But if he was cautious, 
ne was also determined. Revenue was neces- 
sary, and an excise on spirits was the best 
resource from an economical point of view 
Moreover, the Secretary was bent on vindicat- 
Jng the right of the government to collect an 



THE NATIONAL BANK. 99 

internal revenue. It was an important asser- 
tion of power and one which ought to be at the 
command of the government, and which if once 
carried into successful practice would be an- 
other element of strength. It was part of the 
general scheme, economical and political; it 
was a bold and perhaps a perilous move leading 
to grave consequences, but Hamilton made it 
unflinchingly, and then turned all his energies 
to securing its successful operation. 

The day after tliat which gave date to the 
excise report, saw the report on the national 
bank transmitted to the House of Representa- 
tives. This report embodied in an elaborated 
and perfected form the fruit of Hamilton's earli- 
est meditations on finance in the dark days of 
the war. In a national bank he then saw the 
surest staff to aid the tottering steps of the 
young and struggling republic ; and now in the 
plenitude of his power at the head of the treas- 
ury, and of a vigorous party, he turned to it as 
a fundamental element of a broad and national 
^nancial policy. The report was an elaborate 
bssay on national banks with a full display of 
^heir advantages, forcible replies to all the 
anticipated and usual objections, and a clear 
but detailed plan of the bank which the Sec- 
retary wished Congress to establish. The late 
Earl of Beaconsfield announced^ not long ago, 



fn 



100 ALEXANDER HAMILTON. 

that it was necessary to educate his party ; and 
in a similar fashion Hamilton began his report 
by confessing that he wished to educate the 
public, and that this must be his excuse for 
Buch a lengthy presentation of a subject so sim- 
ple and so familiar to the "superior informa- 
tion " of the Congress he addressed. Putting 
ourselves, in the wisdom of our day and gener- 
ation, on the same plane as that which Hamil- 
ton's friends in Congress occupied a century 
ago, we can lay aside the educational details 
and arguments on banks and banking. These 
same details and arguments are admirably ar- 
ranged and most lucidly expressed ; they were 
full of instruction then, it is not impossible 
that they might be of value in that way even 
to the present enlightened age, but still they 
are at bottom argumentative and instructive, 
and are far from easy reading. They do not 
help us particularly to appreciate the charac- 
ter, influence, and meaning in history of the 
man who wrote them down, so we may fairly 
dispense with them here, and confine ourselves 
-o the great principles of the report as an es- 
sential part of a broad general scheme. 

The plan of the bank was a good one, practica. 
and successful ; but that too is not of importance 
here. The bank was to have the support of the 
government, and the government was to have 



THE NATIONAL BANK. 101 

>;he use of the funds, and to a certain extent and 
in a last resort the control of the bank. The 
objects to be attained were in the main the 
same as those aimed at by the funding system. 
The economical problem which confronted the 
United States was, how to develop their vast 
material resources. The difficulty lay in in- 
jured credit, both public and private, in lack 
of capital and circulating medium, and in the 
almost complete deficiency of the financial ma- 
chinery necessary to the conduct of domestic 
trade and foreign commerce. In a national 
bank Hamilton perceived the means of restor- 
ing general confidence, so important to large 
and remunerative business transactions. In the 
issue of bank notes he saw a large addition to 
the circulating medium of the country, and a 
great expansion of credit. These notes would 
have all the strength imparted by the close al- 
liance between the bank and the government, 
without the dangerous qualities inherent in ir- 
redeemable government paper. Facilities for 
exchange and for the transaction of business 
throughout the States, not merely for the gov- 
ernment in the transmission of taxes, and in 
all its other dealings, but for individuals every- 
where, would be promoted to a degree which 
we can hardly conceive without picturing to 
ourselves a community almost utterly destitute 



102 ALEXANDER HAMILTON. 

of all the appliances by which the vast concerns 
of the business world are now kept in daily 
motion. All these great benefits flowing from 
the national bank were correct in theory and 
proved equally so in practice. They were all 
sought by Hamilton for the great purpose of 
advancing the development of the resources of 
the country, which, economically speaking, was 
the pole-star of his whole financial policy. They 
were intended to facilitate trade, encourage en- 
terprise, enhance the value of land, and stimu- 
late at once and as strongly as possible both 
agriculture and commerce. 

In the bank, too, there was also a valuable 
engine for the performance of the financial 
work of the treasury and a fresh source of power 
and strength to the government. In the same 
manner as the funds the bank would create a 
class, or call forth one already in existence in 
support of the government. The stockholders 
of the bank would be even more united and 
more active than the holders of the funds be- 
cause they would have more to gain. Then, 
too, in addition to this powerful body of allies, 
v.he government would find in the resources of 
the bank a great assistance in time of distress, 
and a uniform system of finance and of bank 
notes everywhere receivable would replace the 
chaos of thirteen jarring States, each with its 



THE NATIONAL BANK. 103 

own banks issuing notes which were universally 
distrusted beyond their own borders. The 
power and purposes of a national bank were 
seen as plainly by Hamilton's opponents as by 
his friends, but its immense economical value 
and necessary usefulness prevailed. The policy 
of a national bank thas founded by Hamilton 
has never been permanently laid aside. When 
the charter of the first expired, the very party, 
and some of the very men even who had most 
fiercely resisted it, established another. A few 
years later, and the president of the national 
bank struggled with the President of the 
United States on not unequal terras, a curious 
verification of the power which Hamilton be- 
lieved he should find in a bank, and of the pos- 
sible danger of that power if arrayed against 
the government, as predicted by Hamilton's op- 
ponents. Then came an interregnum of state 
banks, and again dilB&culty and distress led to a 
return to Hamilton's policy. The system of 
national banks has replaced the Bank of the 
United States and its branches, doing away with 
the danger of extreme centralization in a single 
uistitution, which would be at the present time 
hi perilous magnitude. But though the form 
has been thus wisely changed, the policy of na- 
tional banking and the governing principles are 
still those laid down by Hamilton, and we live 



104 ALEXANDER HAMILTON, 

DOW under the sound, wise policy in this respect 
which he devised and carried through nearly a 
century ago. 

But there is another side still to Hamilton's 
plan of a national bank, which overshadows all 
its other purposes and results, important and 
far-reaching as they were. This was the con- 
stitutional side. The opposition denied the 
right of the government of the United States to 
erect a national bank, and Hamilton evoked 
the implied powers of the constitution to bring 
him victory. The struggle went into the cab- 
inet, and Hamilton's argument not only satis- 
fied Washington, but has carried conviction to 
a majority of the American people ever since. 
This argument on the constitutionality of the 
national bank, as a piece of legal reasoning, is 
the most important which Hamilton ever 
produced, not only in itself but because it can 
be tried by the highest possible standard. In 
McCulloch V. Maryland, Chief Justice Marshall 
went over precisely the same ground on the 
Bame question, deciding the point, as is well 
known, in Hamilton's favor. There are few 
arguments which will bear to be placed side by 
side with those of Marshall, but Hamilton's 
bears the comparison without suffering in the 
trial. The able and luminous decision of the 
Chief Justice adds nothing to the argument o^ 



THE IMPLIED POWERS. KJo 

fche Secretary and takes nothing from it, nor is 
the work of the latter inferior to the opinion 
of the judge in clearness and force of expres- 
sion. I am far from meaning to imply by this 
that Hamilton was as a lawyer the equal of Mar- 
shall, who stands at the head of all lawyers, 
especially on constitutional questions. But it 
may be truly said, that a man who could in 
much haste produce an argument which can be 
placed beside an opinion of the great Chief 
Justice involving the very same question, is 
fairly entitled to stand in the front rank of 
lawyers and can be credited with the possession 
of legal talents of the highest order. 

Interesting as this comparison is to the stu- 
dent of Hamilton's life and character, the his- 
torical weight and meaning of the argument 
lies in the calling into vigorous life the implied 
powers of the constitution. This great doc- 
trine, embodying the principle of liberal con- 
struction, was the most formidable weapon in 
the armory of the constitution ; and when Ham- 
ilton grasped it he knew, and his opponents felt, 
that here was something capable of conferring 
on the federal government powers of almost 
any extent. Beside the doctrine of the implied 
uowers, all the other schemes of Hamilton to 
^ive strength to the new system, far reaching 
and striking as they were, sank into insignifi- 



106 ALEXANDER HAMILTON 

cance. Hamilton did not shrink. Strength, 
order, and national force were his objects, and 
in the implied powers he could find everything 
that he needed, or that the government could 
need, provided his progress was not arrested. 
On the doctrine thus boldly laid down as to the 
bank, great parties have arisen and divided 
ever since, and a large part of our history, con- 
stitutional and political, has turned on the im- 
plied powers first seized by Hamilton. The 
growth of nationality, and the conversion of 
the agreement of thirteen States into the char- 
ter of a nation have been largely the develop- 
ment of the implied powers. This is the cen- 
tral point of Hamilton's whole policy, and in hia 
bold declaration of the implied powers of the 
constitution he laid bare his one predominant 
purpose of building up a powerful national gov- 
ernment. 

In a little more than a month after the trans- 
mission of the report on the national bank, the 
indefatigable Secretary of the Treasury sent to 
Congress his report on the establishment of the 
mint. This was of course an integral part of 
his financial policy ; but it was purely financial 
and had none of the wide political and con- 
stitutional importance which attaches to the 
other reports. This essay on coinage, for such 
it really was, shows all Hamilton's thorough- 



THE MINT. 107 

uess of treatment and clearness of thought and 
expression, applied to an intricate and difficult 
series of questions. The most interesting feat- 
ure of the report to us lies in Hamilton's advo- 
cacy of a double standard. His argument was 
moderate in tone ; he fully admitted the neces- 
sity of conforming in this matter to the prac* 
tice of other countries and of the commercia 
world, and especially of England, with whom 
we had our largest dealings. He also frankly 
admitted the difficulties attendant on maintain- 
ing a proper ratio between the metals, so that 
one by being overvalued should not drive the 
other out. But after all deductions and with 
full allowance for all possible risks he comes 
clearly to the conclusion that in the long run 
greater steadiness is acquired by maintaining a 
double rather than a single standard, and that 
a better circulating medium, larger, more con- 
venient, and less subject to dangerous fluctua- 
tions is thus attained. This principle was 
adopted at the time, and with a short interval 
has been the policy of our government ever 
Bince. We now depart from the views ex- 
pressed by Hamilton with reference to a double 
standard by disregarding our relations on this 
point with our principal customers and by 
p'ossly overvaluing the inferior metal. 
In discussing the subject of coinage Hamil- 



108 ALEXANDER HAMILTON, 

kon advised the decimal system, with the doUai 
as a unit. He examined minutely the intricate 
details of alloy, gave a full plan for the work- 
ing force and organization of a mint, and ex- 
plained a careful scheme for coining and for 
the methods and charges of the government in 
this work. The report as a whole is of interest 
merely as showing Hamilton's knowledge and 
industry in every branch of finance, and the 
general soundness of his views, which in this in- 
stance ha^e been in the main closely followed 
ever since. 

Some months later, at the close of this same 
year 1791, Hamilton put the finishing touch to 
his financial policy by his report on manufact- 
ures, the most elaborate, and economically the 
most important of all his reports, and at the 
same time the most far-reaching politically. It 
rested on the implied powers of the constitu- 
tion, and was intended to do more than any- 
thing else toward the development of the re- 
sources of the country, the purpose nearest 
Hamilton's heart, and toward rendering the 
nation as strong and independent materially 
jLS in all other ways. 

That Hamilton looked for immediate results 
from his report on manufactures may well be 
doubted. He certainly knew that progress 
V^ould be deliberate and growth slow in this 



THE REPORT ON MANUFACTURES. 109 

iirection. But he wished to sow the seed, to 
prepare the way and lay down the lines to be 
followed, and so much he did. From Hamil- 
ton's report on manufactures have sprung the 
protectionist policy and the so-called "Amer- 
ican" system of Clay. Hamilton was in his 
grave many years before protection was seri- 
ously taken up as a well-defined system, but 
when it came, stimulated it is true by the mis- 
taken acts of his great opponent, it came, as 
he had foreseen it would come, and it suc- 
ceeded as he had wished it to succeed. Upon 
the principles then laid down, and upon the pol- 
icy then boldly sketched with a master hand, 
parties have divided and a great economical 
system has been built up. Even after a hasty 
examination we can see in this paper, bet- 
ter than anywhere else, the grasp, and at the 
same time the long reach of Hamilton's mind 
and thought. He was familiar with the science 
of political economy, then in its infancy, and 
with the writings of Adam Smith, the founder 
of that science, whom he admired and quoted, 
but whom he did not follow. The first pages 
of the report are occupied with a brief discus- 
sion of the comparative value of agriculture and 
commerce. The arguments of those who give 
nnquestioned preierence to the former are met 
and refuted, and the coc elusion is that theae 



110 ALEXANDER HAMILTON. 

two pursuits are at least of equal value, that 
bhey serve each other, and that it is best that 
both should flourish. He then sets forth under 
Beven heads the advantages to be gained from 
the establishment of manufactures: division of 
labor, extension of the use of machinery, addi- 
tional employment to classes of the community 
not ordinarily engaged in business, promotion 
of immigration, greater scope for the diversity 
of talents and disposition which discriminate 
men from each other, a more ample and various 
field for enterprise, and the creation in some 
instances of a new, and in all of a more certain 
and steady demand for the surplus products of 
the soil. The first objection is, that a state 
thinly settled, with unbounded opportunities for 
agriculture, and able to buy manufactured ar- 
ticles from other nations, attains in this natural 
way the best and most profitable division of la- 
bor. To this Hamilton replies : " If the sys- 
tem of perfect liberty to industry and com- 
merce were the prevailing system of nations, 
the arguments which dissuade a country in the 
predicament of the United States from the 
zealous pursuit of manufactures would doubt- 
less have great force. ... But the system 
which has been mentioned is far from char. 
ikCterizing the general policy of nations. The 
prevalent one has been regulated by an oppo 



THE REPORT ON MANUFACTURES. Ill 

site spirit. ... In such a position of things 
the United States cannot exchange with Eu- 
rope on equal terms. . . . Remarks of this 
kind are not made in the spirit of complaint. 
... It is for the United States to consider by 
what means they can render themselves least 
dependent on the combinations, right or wrong, 
of foreign policy." 

The objection that industry if left to itself 
will find out the most useful and profitable em- 
ployment, and therefore should not be forced 
by government, he meets by pointing out the 
strong influence of habit and of the spirit of 
imitation, including " the fear of want of success 
in untried enterprises, the intrinsic difficulties 
of first essays, and the bounties, premiums, and 
other artificial encouragements with which for- 
eign nations second the exertions of their own 
citizens." He discusses this at length, taking 
substantially the same ground as Mill in his 
" Political Economy," that protection for nas- 
cent industries in order to remove the obstacles 
of starting is wise and proper. He then exam- 
ines at length the practical difficulties of scar- 
city of hands, high wages, and want of capital, 
showing that the first two are exaggerated, and 
used not be seriously injurious, and that the 
third can be overcome by improved credit, the 
expansion of the circulating medium by the 



112 ALEXANDER HAMILTON. 

funds, and through attracting foreign capitaL 
To the objection that protection tends to create 
monopolies and benefit a class at the expense of 
the rest of the community, he replies first, that 
the increase of the price of commodities, even at 
the outset, is much exaggerated, and does not 
always occur ; and second, that in the end the 
establishment of manufactures is a benefit and 
profit to all. The same reasoning applies to 
the objection, that one section of the country 
is aided at the expense of a loss to the other. 
In the aggregate and ultimately, all must ben- 
efit, and agriculture will probably be directly 
stimulated, as in the case of cotton, for which 
manufactories in the North will at once open a 
market. Then are shown the benefits to trade 
from diversity of pursuits and product; and 
lastly, the wealth, and above all the indepen- 
dence and security, to be gained by manufact- 
ures. In the vast territory of the United States 
almost everylhing can be produced, and in the 
successful establishment of manufactures Ham- 
ilton saw the road to an absolute independence 
far beyond the reach of foreign nations. 

With patient detail all important articles of 
industry are examined separately, every small 
advantage or disadvantage weighed and pointea 
out, and every form of protection and govern- 
mental aid carefully discussed. In the \attei 



THE REPORT ON MANUFACTURES. 113 

lire included premiums on invention, and a 
patent system, while a strong plea is made in 
favor of assistance from the government in the 
construction of roads and bridges. Here Ham- 
ilton introduces the doctrine of internal im- 
provements, destined to be for so long a time a 
subject of division ; and for this, as for protec- 
tion, he finds his constitutional authority in the 
theory of the implied powers, and in the broad 
expression of the right " to provide for the gen- 
eral welfare." His plan for the encouragement 
and establishment of manufactures was by a 
combination of bounties and protective duties, 
the surplus revenue of the latter to supply the 
funds for the former. 

In the year 1791, with all nations protect- 
ing their manufactures, Hamilton was a pro- 
tectionist, favoring the protection of nascent 
industries. At the present day, he would prob- 
ably be foremost in urging a revision of the 
tariff and a gradual reduction of duties wher- 
ever it could be safely done. In other words, 
he would now be a moderate protectionist, as he 
was when he sent in his report, but not one 
of those who support a heavy duty in order to 
furnish to industries already firmly established 
a protection which accrues solely to the bene- 
fit of the manufacturers, and of no one else. 
The report on manufactures, as it stands, con- 



114 ALEXANDER HAMILTON. 

tains the best and soundest argument, not on 
the general question of free trade and protec- 
tion, but on that question as connected with 
the United States. "Most general theories, 
however," says Hamilton at the outset, with 
reference to free trade, " admit of numerous 
exceptions," and therefore he confines him- 
self to the United States, and has little to do 
with abstract theory, except by way of respect- 
ful mention. Hamilton's report as an argu- 
ment in favor of protection, must be tried solely 
with reference to the United States, under all 
the circumstances surrounding them, and with 
all their opportunities and possibilities. If it 
is put to this test, setting aside all its literary 
and scientific merits, it remains the best and 
most complete argument for a protective pol- 
icy in the United States which we possess. No 
new and fundamental principle has been added 
to Hamilton's reasoning, but his report has 
been a welcome armory to generations of dis- 
putants, and is still waiting to be successfully 
answered and overthrown. 

The report on manufactures completes the 
financial policy devised and carried through by 
Hamilton and the Federalists. During his ofl&- 
cial term he sent to Congress, of course, very 
:nany reports besides those which I have dis- 
cussed; but in these four, indeed in three of 



THE FINANCIAL POLICY. 115 

them^ his policy in all essential points is em* 
bodied. From these reports came the funding 
system, the revenue system, the sinking fund, 
national banking, the currency, and the first 
enunciation of the protective policy. They car- 
ried with them the great doctrine of the im- 
plied powers of the constitution, and opened 
up the important question of internal improve- 
ments. So far as public policy could do it, 
they laid the foundation of the material pros- 
perity of the United States. -As Gouverneur 
Morris said, what was left of the Revolution 
grounded on finance, and so finance was the 
first all-absorbing and all-important question 
which confronted the new government of 1789. 
A successful financial policy meant the success- 
ful establishment of the new government. Be- 
hind all this lay the great constitutional doc- 
trines which Hamilton raised up and defended, 
and the still greater political influence of his 
work. Hamilton was striving for a vigorous 
national life, and his chief object was to im- 
part to the central government the greatest 
possible strength. He armed the government 
with credit and with a productive revenue; 
he won for it the hearty good- will of the busi- 
ness world ; he gave it a potent ally in the 
national bank ; by the funding system and the 
bank he drew out and welded together, with 



116 ALEXANDER HAMILTON. 

the strong influence of pecuniary interest, a 
powerful class, which knew no state lines ; and 
by his protective policy and internal improve- 
ments he aimed to create yet another vigorous 
body of supporters, and give the government 
still more strength and popularity. It was a 
great policy, the work of a master-mind looking 
far into the future. It was the foundation of a 
great party, and the corner-stone from which 
the federal government was built up. It only 
remains to trace its history and results, as it 
was gradually unfolded before Congress and the 
people, and became the central point of politics 
Eind parties. 



CHAPTER VI. 

THE EESUIiTS OF THE FmANCIAL POLIOy. 

The publication of the first report on the 
public credit was awaited with intense eager- 
ness. When it came, there was, of course, 
much excitement and a general rise in the se- 
curities of the bankrupt confederation. Eager 
speculators hurried over the country to buy up 
the debt, and the Secretary of the Treasury al- 
ready began to be regarded as one who could 
make the fortune not only of the government 
but of individuals. Congress having decided 
that they would not listen to the perilous ora- 
tory of Hamilton, but confine him to writing, 
took up the report. As to the payment of the 
foreign debt, all were agreed, and that portion 
was adopted without discussion ; but on the 
payment of the domestic debt a fierce conflict 
arose. The root of this opposition was in the 
old repudiating, disintegrating spirit of the con- 
'^ederation which still survived, and which found 
CTen plainer expression in resistance to Hamil- 
ton's proposition to pay the arrears of interest 
in the same way as all other indebtedness. Nc 



118 ALEXANDER HAMILTON. 

on^, however, was ready to take this stand 
Bgainst the domestic debt and advocate its ab- 
solute repudiation ; perhaps, indeed, no one 
really desired such a proceeding in its full- 
est extent, although the old demoralization was 
really at the bottom of the hostility. The op- 
position sought to thwart the Secretary and 
maim his plans, on grounds in appearance more 
reasonable and certainly more likely to arouse 
popular sympathy. They found their opening 
in the speculation which had begun with the 
adoption of the constitution, and which reached 
a fever heat on the -publication of the Secre- 
tary's report, when the certificates of debt had 
bounded up to high prices at a single jump. 
The obvious cry was against the greedy and 
successful speculator in possession of the certifi- 
cates, which he had obtained for a song from 
the original holders. The "original holder" 
now figured as a patriot cruelly wronged, and 
in many instances he was a soldier, which gave 
an additional point to the lamentations in his 
behalf, raised generally by men who, under the 
old confederation, which still held their affec- 
tions, had flouted with utter indifference all 
daims, both of soldier and patriotic lender. 

But this inconsistency did not affect the value 
of the argument as a political cry. And there 
was, too, some ground for it in many cases of 



THE DOMESTIC DEBT. 119 

undoubted hardship. Hamilton and his friends 
freely admitted the force of this objection, but 
the Secretary argued that the great object was 
to restore the credit and good name of the 
United States, to do what was just in the ma- 
jority of instances and to the greatest num- 
ber, and he urged, in conclusion, that any 
other pourse was impracticable. His reasoning 
could not be answered, but it did not quell the 
conflict. One proposition was, in cases where 
the certificate was in the hands of a purchaser, 
to pay him only what he had himself paid the 
original holder. The violation of contracts thus 
involved was the fatal objection of Hamilton ; 
but this plan carried with it, moreover, a very 
deep mark of the lurking desire to get out of 
debt by partial repudiation. To the surprise 
of every one, Madison came out in favor of dis- 
crimination ; but he admitted that the certifi- 
cates must be paid in full ; and proposed a plan 
for a division between the original holder and 
the purchaser so hopelessly impracticable, that 
he could only muster thirteen votes in his sup- 
port. Madison shrank from anything like dis- 
honesty, but he was beginning to break from 
the friends of the constitution and from the 
party to which he naturally belonged, because 
be felt the drift of Virginian sentiment, and 
was not strong enough to withstand the press< 



120 ALEXANDER HAMILTON. 

are. In this struggle, the supporters of the 
Secretary, known as the Federalists, and hith« 
erto acting merely as friends of the constitution, 
first gained real cohesion as a party devoted to 
a given policy. Their only opponent of ability 
was Madison, and his opposition was rendered 
abortive and impracticable by his honesty and 
logic. The debate was long and heated, but the 
Federalists, having ability, sound reason, and 
the advantage of position on their side, pre- 
vailed. They also carried through the pay- 
ment of the arrears of interest. Only one point 
remained, and that was the crucial test, the as- 
sumption of the state debts. Much had been 
done before this point was reached. Even if 
Congress went no farther than they had already 
gone, the credit of the country was reasonably 
safe ; but the policy of the Secretary would 
have been sadly mutilated. Public credit would 
not be rounded and complete ; and, above all, 
the financial policy would have been deprived 
of much of its political and constitutional ef- 
fects upon parties, upon the strength of the 
government, and upon the relations of the 
States. Sharp as the battle had been over 
discrimination in the payment of the domestic 
debt, it was a mere preliminary skirmish com- 
pared to the conflict upon assumption. The 
lines were clearly drawn, for Hamilton him^ 



THE ASSUMPTION OF THE STATE DEBTS. 121 

self had marked them out. Parties were mar- 
shalled now, not on the acceptance of the 
constitution, but as to the policy of the gov- 
ernment created by the constitution; and on 
the question of assumption they faced each 
other for the first vigorous, well-defined, polit- 
ical contest in the history of the United States. 
There was no need here to cast about for 
popular arguments, as in the case of the domes- 
tic debt, where the real grounds and objects 
of opposition were not clearly conceived, or 
were better hidden from view. There was an 
abundance of subsidiary and obvious arguments 
brought forward to the effect that too great a 
burden would be laid upon the people; that the 
state debts could not with justice be saddled 
upon the United States ; that assumption was 
unfair in benefiting some States largely and not 
helping others, and among them some of the 
most deserving, at all. All these points were 
raised, and local feeling ran ver}'- high, particu- 
larly upon the last, leading to much angry re- 
crimination and comparison of services in the 
Revolution. But after all was said, the most 
vigorous attack was against the chief purpose 
of the Secretary, the end which he here had in 
In view above all others of strengthening the 
aational government by this large increase of 
ts creditors, transferring the interest of a pow- 



122 ALEXANDER HAMILTON. 

erful class from the States to the Union, and in 
this way binding the States closer together and 
weakening enormously the vigor of the State- 
rights sentiments. Politically it was a bold and 
masterly stroke, but Hamilton's opponents saw 
at what it aimed as plainly as he did himself. 
A loud cry went up against this centralizing 
movement. The anti-Federalists, with reviv- 
ing dislike of the constitution, felt with sud- 
den keenness the strength and pressure of the 
bonds which the minister of finance was draw 
ing closer and closer about the people and the 
States, and they struggled desperately to get 
free. 

Hamilton had foreseen this opposition, but 
he had reckoned on certain forces to sustain 
him, and he did not reckon in vain. His first 
ally was the enthusiasm aroused by his own 
policy ; his second the confidence and interest 
of the capitalists and merchaiits ; his third the 
direct pecuniary gain to certain States in the 
success of assumption ; and his fourth and most 
important, the powerful body of able men in 
and out of Congress, who desired a strong cen 
tral government, whose objects were the same 
as his own, and who had found in him a leader 
about whom they could gather in solid pha- 
lanx. These forces prevailed. After a long 
and heated conflict assumption was carried ir 



THE AiiSVMPTION OF THE STATE DEBTS. 123 

committee of the whole, but the majority, al- 
though compact and unyielding, was narrow. 
Delay served the opposition well. When the 
resolutions got out of committee and came up 
in the House, the members from North Caro- 
lina, at last in the union, had taken their seats, 
and they turned the scale against assumption. 
By their aid the resolution was recommitted, 
and the Federalists, determined to have all or 
nothing, sent the rest of the measures back 
with it. Again the party opposed to assump- 
tion prevailed, and the whole policy was at a 
stand. Feeling ran very high, and ugly mur- 
murs of dissolution began to be heard. It 
looked as if the measures, destined above all 
others to consolidate the new union, would 
wreck it at the very start. Hamilton had sum- 
moned his spirits, and they had come to him. 
All the forces he had calculated upon had re- 
sponded and done their work, but a new factor 
had been introduced and they could do no 
more. The dead-lock was as perilous as it was 
unforeseen, but the adverse majority was very 
small, only two votes, and Hamilton was not 
only determined but fertile in resources. He 
would not yield one jot of his financial policy, 
out he was perfectly ready to give up something 
else ; and in the site of the new capital, the 
federal city, he found a suitable victim for the 
siacrifice. 



124 ALEXANDER HAMILTON. 

This matter of the seat of government had 
excited great controversy and feeling between 
States and sections. Whether the future capital 
should be in New York or Pennsylvania, in 
Virginia or Maryland ; vrhether this inesti- 
mable boon should fall to the North or to the 
South, was a burning question second only to 
assumption. Local prejudice and local pride 
were raised to white heat on this momentous 
issue. To Hamilton all this was supremely in- 
different. Much of his strength and somewhat 
of his weakness as a public man came from the 
fact that, while he was purely and intensely na- 
tional in opinion, and was devotedly attached 
to the United States, ho was utterly devoid of 
local feeling and of state pride. There is no 
evidence that he cared one whit, except as a 
matter of mere abstract convenience, where 
Congress fixed the site of the federal city ; bat 
he was keenly alive to the fact that everybody 
about him cared a great deal, and whether rea- 
sonably or not was of no consequence. The 
party which favored assumption were, as a rule, 
on the side of a northern capital, and had pre- 
vailed. The party which resisted assumption 
favored a southern capital, and had been beaten. 
To gain the necessary votes for assumption 
Hamilton determined to sacrifice what he justly 
thought was a perfectly trivial question, and 



THE ASSUMPTION OF THE STATE DjlBTS. 125 

fchus save the financial policy which he rightly 
BOJisidered to be of vital importance, and the 
Very corner-stone of the new government. To 
carry out this scheme he needed the alliance of 
a southern leader, and he pitched upon the 
man fated to become his great opponent, — the 
leader and type of one school of thought and 
politics as Hamilton was himself the leader and 
type of the other. 

Thomas Jefferson had just returned from 
France and taken his place at the head of 
Washington's cabinet. He came back with both 
Dody and brain dressed in the French fashion. 
His subtle, ingenious mind was full of the ideas 
of the French revolution, then beginning in 
Paris. But except for his belief in liberty and 
humanity, which was born with him and which 
ae did not go to Paris to learn, the wild ravings 
©f the Jacobin clubs, and the doctrines of Marat 
and Robespierre, were as little a part of the 
real man as his French clothes. He would use 
the ideas of French democracy so long as they 
were useful and a fit covering for his real pur- 
poses, and then he would lay them aside as be 
did his French coat when it was worn out. 
With his mind thus occupied Jefferson had 
come home to an America very different from 
khe one he had left. A new government, with 
the inception and plan of which ne had had but 



126 ALEXANDER HAMILTON. 

little sympathy, had been constructed and the 
foundations of a strong state were ah'eady ris- 
ing among the ruins of the old confederacy. 
He found a vigorous party, led for the most 
part by new men, arrayed in defence of a strong 
central government, and urging forward all 
measures calculated to invigorate it. Opposed 
to them were a body of men, numerous, it is 
true, but scattered and disorganized, with no 
possible party ground except resistance to the 
constitution and all its works. Jefferson, with 
his keen perceptions, saw at a glance the folly 
of opposition to the constitution ; but as he sur- 
veyed the field on which he had just arrived it 
was by no means easy to determine what posi- 
tion to take. Nevertheless, while he waited 
and watched for developments, he had to do 
something, and that something, as was most 
natural, was to give his support to the admin- 
istration of which he was a part, and to its 
measures, which then consisted of Hamilton's 
financial policy hanging in the balance on the 
decision of Congress as to assumption. Jeffer- 
son saw as plainly as anybody the scope of the 
financial policy and the intrinsic merit of as- 
sumption. He had, moreover, no prejudices at 
that time against the author of the policy 
With no line marked out for his conduct, and 
ready, until events decided otherwise, to su& 



THE ASSUMPTION OF THE STATE DEBTS. 127 

kain the administration, he fell in easily enough 
with the schemes of his colleague. There waa 
a little talk, and a little dinner, and Hamilton 
agreed to secure votes for a southern capital, 
and Jefferson promised to do the same for as- 
sumption. It would be an error to treat this 
as a bargain or compromise between opposing 
factions, for it was the work of two cabinet 
ministers favoring the same policy, Hamilton 
gained success for his great plans. Jefferson by 
Lis personal influence helped to carry through 
the measures of the administration of which 
he was a member, and obtained in return the 
concession of the site of the capital, which was 
of value to him as a southern leader. In after 
times when Hamilton stood to Jefferson and 
his party as the representative of all that was 
bad, the memory of this transaction of 1790, 
and of a friendly alliance with the great Feder- 
alist, became troublesome. Jefferson would 
fain have erased from history the whole busi- 
ness. He wished the world to believe that the 
wicked, aristocratic, monarchical Federalists 
had always been his foes, and had found in 
him their mightiest opponent. Yet there was 
the ugly fact that he had himself turned the 
scale in favor of one of their fundamental 
neasures. His manner of dealing with the 
problem was characteristic. He did not ex 



L28 ALEXANDER HAMILTON. 

plain it away in his lifetime, for he might have 
met with awkward contradiction. But he set 
it all down for the benefit of posterity, and then 
excused himself for having supported a measure 
of the administration of which he was a mem- 
ber, and for having aided the accursed Federal- 
ists, by saying that he was " duped by Hamil- 
ton." 

It is impossible to resist pausing over this 
statement, for it is one of the most amusing ever 
made even by Jefferson, and shows a confidence 
in the credulity of posterity which is not flat- 
tering. In justice to Jefferson it must be said 
that as long as ho had made up his mind to get 
himself out of what he considered a scrape, 
this was the only excuse he could make. But 
it was, unluckily, a most clumsy and trans- 
parent deception. Thomas Jefferson had his 
weaknesses and his failings, but a lack of knowl- 
edge of human nature and human character was 
not among them. In the difficult art of under- 
standing his fellow-men he was unrivalled, and 
he was never deceived by any man, unless by 
himself and as to his own motives. On the 
other hand, Hamilton was the very last man to 
succeed in duping others, and it would be diffi- 
cult to find anything more impossible to Hamil- 
ton than the feat attributed to him by his rival 
He had a directness of thought and action 



ASSUMPTION CARRIED. 129 

which was always remarkable, and at times 
overbearing and intolerant. It may well be 
doubted whether he could have successfully 
duped any one, even if he had tried, and he 
certainly had far too much sense to have at- 
tempted such an experiment on so unpromising 
a subject as Jefferson. 

But we are indebted to Jefferson, and to his 
inability to let well alone, for the details of 
this whole matter, since the other side 'held 
their tongues. The Federalists were not, as a 
party, given to useless chatter, while Hamilton 
as usual went straight to his mark, called out 
unexpected resources, and said nothing about it. 
Congress took up the funding measures again, 
and the old angry wrangling went on even aftei 
a disagreeable consciousness that they were 
beaten in some unknown way had crept over 
the opposition. When the decisive moment 
came their fears were fully confirmed. The 
capital went to the Potomac and assumption 
was voted. The first great battle had now 
been fought in all its parts and the Secretary 
had won. 

The plans for the revenue, for the excise, for 
the mint, were adopted in principle, and sub- 
stantially as Hamilton advised. The Secre- 
tary's innocent suggestion that the image and 
ymbols on the coins might be made to have an 



130 ALEXANDER HAMILTON. 

3ducational bearing, led to a proposal to stamp 
on one side of the coins the head of the Pres 
ident for the time being. This harmless prop- 
osition produced a debate, amusing to us, but 
very earnest, heated, and real, a hundred years 
ago. The upshot of it all was the adoption of 
the head of Liberty for the coins, and the dis- 
cussion has no value except as showing the state 
of public feeling. From this utterly insignifi- 
cant controversy we see that when Hamilton 
sought to advance the cause of strong central- 
ized government and of an aristocratic republic 
he was not crying in the wilderness. He ap- 
pealed to clearly marked opinions, entertained 
by a body of men powerful by their talents if 
not by their numbers. On the other hand, there 
appears an immense amount of ill-defined sen- 
timent cherished by a majority of the people, 
but in a party sense ill-regulated and incoher- 
ent, which turned longingly back toward the 
days of a shattered confederacy and sovereign 
States, which was thoroughly democratic, and 
looked with morbid suspicion on everything, no 
matter what, which tended to lend strength or 
dignity to the central government. It was this 
opposition which met Hamilton at every point, 
and which as it felt his strong hand drawing 
the bonds of federal and national government 
m3re and more tightly, detected aristocracy ir 



THE NATIONAL BANK. 131 

S'very public oflBice and scented monarchy in the 
image and superscription of the coins ; while 
among the party of the Secretary were to be 
found those who, with all their wise policy and 
high purposes, believed forms and titles essen- 
tial not merely to dignity but to strength. The 
truth, as usual, lay somewhere between the 
extremes illustrated by the trifling symbols on 
which excessive partisans set a high price. 

The next really great measure in the finan- 
cial policy gave rise to a stubborn contest which 
was carried through both houses of Congress 
and into the cabinet, there to receive its final 
decision at the hands of Washington. The op- 
position, which had been aroused by the as- 
sumption of the state debts, to the strength- 
ening and concentrating effect of the financial 
policy, cried out loudly against the additional 
bond of union disclosed in the bank. They 
railed against the class which was thus being 
bound to the government, and against the cap- 
italists who were being brought to the side of 
the administration. They pointed out that the 
South and agriculture were sacrificed to the 
Korth and trade. But all was vain. Hamilton 
was now on the flood-tide of success, and the 
national bank passed by a good majority. The 
most formidable weapon employed against it 
was the constitutional argument used by Madl 



132 ALEXANDER HAMILTON. 

son, and, as the President was known to have 
doujts on this point, the last and strongest 
stand was made in the cabinet. Jefferson, Ran- 
dolph, and Madison severally gave Washington 
written arguments against the bank. In great 
haste and pressed by business, Hamilton made 
the famous reply which has already been dis- 
cussed, and which gained Washington's adher- 
ence. In defending the bank, Hamilton estab- 
lished the doctrine of the implied powers, a 
matter infinitely more potent and more far- 
reaching than the establishment of the great 
Cnancial machine which called it forth. 

The last of the reports, that on manufactures, 
fras economically more important than any of its 
predecessors, but it had no immediate results. 
Congress had already discussed the question 
vaguely, and had done something to favor home 
production and American commerce. The ques- 
tion of protection or free trade was constantly in 
men's minds, but a system was of slow growth. 
Hamilton pointed to the road to be followed, 
and other men travelled in it, among the first 
Jefferson and Madison with their plan of " al- 
lowances " for the fisheries, while at the same 
time they denounced the theory, its author, aii(i 
all his works, including " protection and boun 
ties." Hamilton marked out clearly and fulh 
a plan for the development of industry, trade 



COMPLETION OF TEE FINANCIAL POLICY. 133 

ftnd commerce. He turned the current of 
thought, he influenced the future, but the task 
was too mighty, the scheme was too vast to ba 
carried out at once, or in fact otherwise tha 
piecemeal, but it was a fit termination to the 
great work which he had accomplished. 

Thus was the financial policy completed, 
adopted, and put in operation as Hamilton de- 
signed it. The only mischance was the specula- 
tion which began with the debt certificates, was 
fostered by the success of the bank, and ex- 
panded into a wild mania, and consequent panic 
and disaster. From the outset the Secretary 
had striven to check this spirit, of which he saw 
the evil and danger. He repelled his friends 
who sought information, and did all that was 
possible to cool the excitement. He strove in 
vain and then was blamed for the speculation, 
the rapid fortunes and the swift disaster alike. 

The only miscalculation made by Hamilton 
was in regard to the rate of interest, which he 
supposed would fall, but which, owing to the 
marvellous rapidity of material development 
and the consequent employment of capital, 
really rose. The error was almost unavoidable, 
and it was quite harmless. The criticisms 
which have been made on this famous series of 
measures have been various and contradictory. 
It was said at the time that Hamilton made 



134 ALEXANDER HAMILTON. 

the debt too permanent, but on the otlier hand 
it was also urged that he was putting too great 
a burden on the people, and the shorter the 
loan the greater the immediate burden. In this 
he observed a just mean and a wise modera- 
tion. The unexpected rate of growth in the 
country showed afterwards that the debt might 
have been paid more rapidly, but at the mo- 
ment Hamilton's anticipations of revenue were 
generally regarded as absurdly sanguine. The 
most forcible criticism, which was made either 
then or since, was that the financial policy was 
too strong, that it put too great a strain upon 
the infant experiment, ventured too much, ran 
too great a risk, and came near causing ship- 
wreck. Hamilton reasoned that if his financial 
policy could be made successful, a good national 
government might be built up, and that if it 
proved too strong and the new system gave way, 
then the constitution was not worth preserv 
ing. Of the soundness of this argument, as it 
seems to me, there can be no doubt. But after 
all the best evidence is in results. There was 
no public credit. Hamilton created it. There 
was no circulating medium, no financial machin- 
ery ; he supplied them. Business was languish 
ing, and business revived under ttie treasury 
measures. There was no government, no sys. 
lena with life in it, only a paper constitution. 



COMPLETION OF THE FINANCIAL POLICY. 135 

Hamilton exercised the powers granted by the 
constitution, pointed out those which lay hid- 
den in its dry clauses, and gave vitality to the 
lifeless instrument. He drew out the resources 
of the country, he exercised the powers of the 
constitution, he gave courage to the people, he 
laid the foundations of national government — 
and this was the meaning and result of th« 
financial policy. 



CHAPTEK VII. 

PARTY CONTESTS. 

In carrying through his measures, Hamiltoc 
had found in the friends of the constitution 
material for a political party. The Federalists, 
when the new scheme adopted by their efforts 
went into operation in March, 1789, were a 
very different body from that which stood about 
the administration after the passage of the treas- 
ury measures. When the first Congress assem- 
bled, the Federalists had achieved their imme- 
diate object, and were waiting for the progress 
of events. They were like a body of volunteers, 
who had rushed together to fight a battle im- 
mediately before them, and now that victory 
was won and the enemy scattered they were 
but loosely held together, and as they stood 
looking about rather vaguely, dispersion was 
quite as probable as organization. To the Fed- 
eralists Hamilton came as a leader. He gave 
them new objects, he raised still higher the 
standard of better government, showed them 
how the constitution was to be made to bear 
fruit, and that its adoption was merely the be- 



GRO WTH OF THE FEDERALIST PARTY, 137 

ginning of the great work for whicli they had 
come forward. When the financial policy was 
finally embodied in legislation, the band of vol- 
unteers had become a compact, well-disciplined 
army, a strong party with a policy which 
showed great things done, and stretched for- 
ward to the future, pointing out what was still 
to be accomplished. This was the political suc- 
cess of the financial policy, but it was not with- 
out its penalty to the triumphant Federalists Id 
general and to Hamilton in particular. 

If the Federalists in 1789 resembled a hastily 
gathered army of volunteers, their opponents 
were mere scattered bands of guerillas. Broken 
by the successful adoption of the constitution, 
they wandered helplessly about, and gave way, 
with a good deal of spasmodic struggling before 
the compact forces and sharp assaults of the 
Federalists. Their only bond of union had been 
resistance to the constitution, and this not only 
became constantly weaker, but injured them by 
its very existence, as the popularity of the new 
system rapidly increased. Strong as they were 
in numbers, the Democratic party of the future 
had no better name than anti-Federalists, and 
no better cry than that of opposition to every- 
thing emanating from the government. This 
loose, incoherent mass was welded together by 
Hamilton's aggressive, decisive policy. It was 



138 ALEXANDER HAMILTON. 

not much to do, but it at least compacted them, 
BO that if the Federalists presented, when the 
National Bank Act passed, an appearance of 
which any leader might be proud, they were 
confronted by mucli more formidable opponents 
than when they carried with a sweep the fund- 
ing of the domestic debt. The anti-Federal- 
ists had not only consolidated themselves, but 
they had concentrated their opposition with ex- 
traordinary intensity upon one man. In those 
early days Hamilton was thought by his op- 
ponents to be the embodiment of all power, and 
as his policy was developed before them he came 
to be considered the embodiment of all evil as 
well. His followers at first seemed to have 
been regarded largely as his creatures, and the 
dislike of the anti-Federalists extended only 
very gradually beyond the confines of the Treas- 
ury Department. The Secretary was once more 
accused of being " British " in his tastes and 
sympathies. From England, his enemies de- 
clared, he had borrowed everything. Nothing, 
it was said, was original in the most successful 
financiering of the time and he was, according 
to his opponents, preparing to go even farther, 
and was making ready to introduce monarchy, 
aristocracy, and the rest. Then came those hos- 
tile tributes to his genius and ability which have 
never been surpassed by the eulogies of hii 



GROWTH OF THE OPPOSITION. 139 

friends. To Hamilton was attributed the sud- 
den prosperity and the wild speculation, while 
he was also held responsible for not stopping 
the inevitable panic. Every member of the 
Federalist party was said to be personally in- 
spired by the Secretary, and to be under the 
spell of his magical eloquence and subtle rea- 
soning ; he had, as was alleged, bewitched and 
blinded the unerring judgment of Washington, 
which had set the seal of its approval on the 
treasury policy. In attacks like these, of little 
real weight, but nevertheless likely as they in- 
creased in vehemence and repetition to arouse 
enmity and impair his influence, and in the 
drawing together of the opposition, Hamilton 
found the dark side of his brilliant success as a 
financier, a statesman, and party leader. But 
still the attacks were as yet mere mutterings of 
a possible storm, for the anti-Federalists were 
after all very weak, with but little ability except 
what Madison had brought over to them, and 
were living a precarious life of opposition solely 
for opposition's sake. They needed a policy, 
direction and point in their attacks ; above all 
things they needed a leader. They found all 
three at the right hand of Washington, in 
Hamilton's own colleague and quondam ally, 
Thomas Jefferson. The Secretary of State had 
made up his mind. He could no longer sup 



140 ALEXANDER HAMILTON. 

port the administration. He could not govern 
Hamilton, nor would he be ruled by him, and his 
own State was wholly against the government. 
In Hamilton's successful policy there were the 
germs of an aristocratic republic, there were 
certainly limitations and possibly dangers to 
pure democracy ; he could not hope to lead or 
control the Federalists, and therefore nothing 
remained but to go to the leaderless multitude 
on the other side and overthrow the party of 
Washington and Hamilton. This, it is needless 
to say, was not done in a moment. Jefferson 
was the last man to make up his mind suddenly 
to a decisive step and then take it at once. 
He had no notion of cutting adrift until he saw 
how the land lay. Still less ready was he to 
come boldly forward with a programme and put 
himself at the head of a party. When he had 
his party all prepared he would do this, but 
meanwhile t^. would stay where he was. 

It is impossible to fix the exact time when 
the dissensions in the cabinet, where the new 
party warfare took its rise, first definitely began. 
When the flame leaped up before the eyes ol 
men it was evident that the fire had been burn- 
ing for some time. We may say, however, in a 
general way, that the *' rift within the lute " be- 
gan after the assumption of the state debts, an6 
waa greatly widened by the disunion among the 



DfSSJ£NSIONS IN TEE CABINET. 141 

President's advisers as to the national bank. 
It was in the winter of 1791-92 that Hamilton 
oecame satisfied that Je:fferson and Madison 
vTere organizing and leading a party against 
him ; but at that time, and for some months to 
come, he held his peace, and it would have been 
well if he had continued to do so. The secret 
work of Jefferson, who began his hostilities 
against the administration before any one sus- 
pected him, and who continued them while 
clinging to office long after his enmity toward 
all his associates was notorious, first showed it- 
self in changes in the policy of the opposition. 
In the first place, they got a name and called 
themselves Republicans, as distinguished from 
monarchists, the equivalent of Federalists, The 
objects of opposition became better defined, and 
were formulated in such a way as to be taking 
cries and catch-words. A clear line of attack 
was marked out, and in short, from being a con- 
fused crowd, the anti-Federalists began to as- 
sume the form and substance of a compact party. 
This was the work of Jefferson, silent, subtle, 
retiring, making no speeches, and printing no 
3ssays, but doing a good deal of quiet talking 
and shrewd letter-writing, toiling in the dark 
and managing men. In the face of Hamilton's 
dazzling success, to form an opposition party of 
respectable character and gc-od discipline, even 



142 ALEXANDER HAMILTON. 

witli abundant rougli material at hand, was a 
great political feat. Even to make a begin- 
ning took time, and the few points just men- 
tioned were the gradual developments of a 
twelvemonth. 

Oddly enough, Jefferson's first blow — which 
shows him turning to the opposition six months 
before Hamilton suspected it — was hasty, and 
unlike himself, because it was publicly given, 
and fell not upon Hamilton but upon John 
Adams. That eminent man, finding but little 
occupation for his restless energy in the Vice- 
Presidency, betook himself to writing certain 
essays entitled " Discourses on Davila." These 
articles, speculative in character, but well rea- 
soned, and calculated to check the fervor excited 
by the French Revolution, were very sound and 
conservative in tone, advocated constitutional 
government, checks and balances, upper houses, 
and the like. To Jefferson, entering upon the 
path of a democratic leader, all this smacked of 
monarchy and aristocracy, and he forthwith got 
out an edition of Paine's " Rights of Man " as 
an antidote to all such pernicious stuff, and pre- 
fixed to it a preface in which he hit a sidelong 
blow at the stout old patriot of Massachusetts 
John Quincy Adams replied as '^ Publicola. 
Jefferson got the worst of it, and after his fash- 
ion tried to explain it all away. This affair. 



THE ''NATIONAL GAZETTE.'' 143 

however, set hira to reflecting on the fact, that 
^hile the Federalists had in " Fenno's Gazette" 
an organ devoted to their service, and reaching 
into every State, the party of the future had 
nothing of the sort. In the following autumn 
these meditations bore fruit in the shape of the 
" National Gazette," edited by Philip Freneau, 
to whom Jefferson gave the position of trans- 
lating clerk in the State Department. Thus 
fortified, Freneau, who was a bright fellow and 
a versifier of some little talent, began a succes- 
sion of bitter, sometimes of clever and well- 
directed attacks upon the measures of the ad- 
ministration, and particularly upon Hamilton. 
Then it was that Hamilton, putting two and two 
together, came to the very accurate conclusion 
that Jefferson and Madison were organizing a 
party against him, and had established a news- 
paper in their interest as a very necessary part 
of the plan. 

Jefferson, meantime, was at work in othei 
directions. He wrote to Washington more than 
once, deprecating the treasury measures, and 
depicting a state of popular discontent, and 
stirred up others to do the same. At last, on 
a visit to Virginia during the summer of 1791, 
Washington heard from the lips of his " quon 
dam friend," Colonel Mason, a long and ad- 
rerse criticism upon the policy of the adminis 



J 44 ALEXANDER HAMILTON. 

kration. Taking this as an excuse, perhapu 
Washington condensed all that had been writ' 
ken or said into a brief summary and sent it to 
Hamilton. Here we find the principles, or 
more properly the war-cries, of the opposition 
formulated for the first time with some clear- 
ness, and in every line we detect the cunning 
hand of the Secretary of State. Reduced to its 
simplest terms, this piece of criticism amounts 
to this: that Hamilton was politically a very 
bad and dangerous man, who had heaped up a 
vast debt, which was a sore burden to the peo- 
ple, but which he would not let them pay im- 
mediately, notwithstanding their overtaxed con- 
dition, but which he had contrived to render 
permanent; that he fostered speculation, jug- 
gled with paper money and the debt in order 
to influence Congress, where he maintained a 
corrupt squadron ; and that he was laboring 
secretly to introduce aristocracy and monarchy. 
Hamilton dealt with this diatribe in a way very 
characteristic of him when he kept his temper, 
as he usually did. After a few lines of quiet 
indignation in his reply to the President, he 
proceeded to number all the objections made 
oy Mason, and then discussed and answered 
each of them in his usual cold, forcible, and 
'ucid fashion, just as if he were drawing a re- 
port or making a brief, instead of repelling 



HAMILTON ATTACKS JEFFERSON. 145 

gross personal attacks. The task was not dif- 
ficult, for where the accusations were not con- 
tradictory they were hopelessly and plainly 
false, and Washington was entirely satisfied. 
Indeed, it must be confessed that Jefferson's 
tirst declaration of party principles was a pretty 
poor one. But it was better than anything the 
party by itself had been able to do : it gave 
them some valuable catch-words, and concen- 
trated their efforts on the ruin of one man. 

Whether this last assault was too much for 
his endurance, or whether the " National Ga- 
zette," now more vituperative than ever, had 
become unbearable, it is certain that after re- 
replying to the " Objections " sent him by 
Washington, Hamilton completely lost his tem- 
per. He descended into the arena of party 
strife, and proceeded to answer Freneau, and 
whip Jefferson over the shoulders of his ed- 
itor. This was improper and undignified, the 
act of an angry man, righteously indignant, 
no doubt, but not on that account to be ex- 
cused for taking his high office into the dust 
of a political newspaper brawl. There was, 
moreover, no need of it. Federalist politicians 
and Federalist editors were never either slow 
or feeble with pen or toiigue, and were quite 
capable of defending their chief and their 
party. But Hamilton had lost his temper, and 



146 ALEXANDER BAMILTON. 

a ready pen is a terrible temptation. Once 
engaged, he fought well, of course, and it may 
be admitted that he gained a temporary advan- 
tage. It is no excuse to say that all the lead- 
ing men of the day wrote for the newspapers, 
and formed public opinion in that way. Ham- 
ilton was a member of the cabinet, next to 
Washington the most conspicuous man in the 
country, and he had no right and no business to 
send anonymous communications to the news- 
papers, savagely attacking one of his colleagues 
in the administration. He hurt his assailants 
badly, no doubt ; he wrote brilliantly ; he gained 
a temporary victory, but in the eyes of posterity 
he injured himself and his personal and official 
dignity. Jefferson, we may be sure, had not 
planned to draw Hamilton out. He never cared 
for debate either in the newspapers or by word 
of mouth. He had no love for a stricken field, 
and had doubtless believed that circumstances 
would keep Hamilton silent. He winced terri- 
bly when Hamilton rushed at him and publicly 
denounced him as the supporter of a journal 
devoted to attacks on the government, whose 
editor he provided for by public office. He 
smarted under the lash of a practised hand, 
which depicted him as a secret intriguer against 
the treasury measures, which demolished hia 
charges and laid bare all the operations of the 



JEFFERSON'S DEFENCE. 147 

^naiicial policy, with great consequent credit to 
Its author. For the time being the " National 
Gazette" was crippled, and the Secretary of 
State humiliated ; but for this poor reward 
Hamilton had deeply grieved and troubled the 
President, who had watched the well-directed 
shafts go home, and who keenly felt the injury 
to the government and to the country of such 
a quarrel, so conducted, and between men oc- 
cupying such positions. Washington remon- 
strated with both by letter, and the replies 
bring the two secretaries into strong contrast. 
Hamilton's letter was brief, direct, and manly. 
He said little about his antagonist, avowed his 
right to defend himself, and promised to do all 
in his power to keep the peace and hold the 
administration together. Jefferson's answer 
was long and tortuous. He defended himself 
elaborately against Hamilton's published at 
tacks with a kind of wail in his tone which 
showed that he had been hurt ; but he devoted 
most of his reply to Washington's request foi 
harmony to venomous and bitter abuse of his 
colleague. As a practical result of all this, 
Hamilton stopped his attacks, while Jefferson 
opened fresh trenches in a new direction. 

When Congress came together, Hamilton in- 
troduced a series of measures looking to the 
speedy redemption of the debt. One was to 



148 ALEXANDER HAMILTOA. 

insure tlie maintenance of the sinking fund, and 
provide for outstanding certificates ; anottier, to 
borrow money at a lower rate of interest ; and a 
third, to levy taxes to buy up the six per cents 
as rapidly as possible. By the strenuous efforts 
of the opposition, the last two were defeated, 
the proposition for new taxes, some of which 
fell upon the planters who were accustomed to 
raise revenue in the North, being particularly 
distasteful. Thus it was that the party which 
denounced the debt and accused Hamilton of 
using it corruptly, met his proposal to take all 
possible reasonable steps for its redemption, and 
having done themselves all they could to render 
it permanent, they yet continued to assail the 
Secretary for that very design. 

But all this was the mere disingenuousness 
of party warfare. The next assault planned by 
Jefferson and Madison was a much more serious 
affair. It aimed at the personal ruin of the Sec- 
retary, and was intended to drive him from the 
cabinet and prove him guilty of corruption. 
The attack was headed by Giles, a rough, 
brazen, loud-voiced Virginian, fit for any bad 
work, no matter how desperate. First, accounts 
of one foreign loan were called for, then of all • 
then when it appeared that two loans had 
been consolidated for which there was but 
doubtful authority in law, and while Jefferson 



THE ATTACK UPON HAMILTON. 149 

was insinuating to Washington that Hamilton 
had used these loans corruptly to aid the bank, 
there came a string of resolutions calculated 
to lay bare every operation of the treasury. 
Jefferson and Madison in this business made 
the great mistake of not knowing their man 
before they fell upon him. They probably 
had little real doubt of Hamilton's integrity, 
but they thought he would find it difficult to 
demonstrate it by figures ; they thought that 
in all these complicated finances there might be 
errors susceptible of distortion which would 
cause them to be misconstrued, and, above all^ 
they hoped that Hamilton would be so harassed 
that he would leave the cabinet. They reck- 
oned without their host. Hamilton was not 
only a man of spotless integrity in his vast fi- 
nancial transactions, but he was essentially a 
fighting man. When danger of this sort came 
upon him, his head became clearer and his 
nerve greater than before. He was no longer 
writing anonymously in " Fenno's Gazette ; '* 
he was a great minister, called upon without 
warning to defend himself, his honor, his office, 
«ind his department. Now his genius for or- 
ganization told in the readiness with which, 
nnder his system, everything could be accounted 
Cor. Report after report poured in ^upon Con- 
gress until every operation of the treasury was 



150 ALEXANDER HAMILTON. 

displayed to the public eye so plainly that he 
who ran might read. Those who had under- 
taken this ill-starred business would fain have 
adjourned and left it all unsettled. But Ham- 
ilton was too quick for them, and before the 
session closed everything had been exposed to 
the public gaze. The Federalists rejoiced, and 
eagerly pressed their advantage. Giles intro- 
duced resolutions of censure, and the Federal- 
ists forced a vote on all of them. Poor Madi- 
son, who was preeminently a man of peace, but 
who had been dragged into this as he was into 
all his great mistakes by others, had no escape. 
He was compelled to go on record in favor of 
the resolutions in a minority so small that it 
was at once ludicrous and humiliating when 
contrasted with the grandeur of the preparation 
and the violence of the abusive declamation 
which had accompanied the whole proceeding. 

We know that the efforts made by Hamil- 
ton to accomplish this feat told severely on his 
health, and the event is one of the most impor- 
tant in his career, because it brought out so 
strongly the salient features of his mind and 
character. Hamilton could organize and dis- 
cipline bodies of men both in war and politics, 
but he was not a party manager. He could 
marshal his forces in debate as he marshalled 
his arguments ; he could lay out a policy and 



TEE ATTACK UPON HAMILTON. 151 

give directions to his lieutenants, but he could 
not deal with the rank and file. With his 
party behind him, he could lead ; but others 
must manage the forces. With the same over- 
whelming impetuosity with which he charged 
the Yorktown redoubt he now rushed upon 
Giles and upon those who moved the wires 
which made Giles dance. In the dash of the 
onset we see the vehement energy and strong 
passionate nature of Hamilton toiling day and 
night, until the color left his cheeks, that he 
might compel an issue before Congress ad- 
journed. Yet in all this hot enthusiasm and 
defiance comes out the clear, cold, penetrating 
intellect which without an angry word could 
draw out schedules and balances and accounts, 
a long array of silent and convincing figures 
and facts, and nothing else. When at last the 
conflict was over, and he had routed his oppo- 
nents and stood flushed with victory, it is no 
wonder that the party chiefs gathered round 
him with a zealous devotion. The people saw 
that Hamilton had triumphed ; that he had been 
right and his enemies wrong ; that he had been 
clean and above reproach. But these long col- 
umns of figures did not appeal to the popular 
imagination, and the masses did not appreciate 
the magnitude of the battle which had been 
R-aged. The leaders in Congress and elsewhere 



152 ALEXANDER HAMILTON. 

saw all this, and it was with them that Ham* 
ilton stood highest then and always. There 
was probably no one, however, who appreci- 
ated the situation so keenly as Jefferson. The 
most desperate assault possible had been disas- 
trously repulsed. Hamilton was higher than 
ever in the public esteem, stronger than ever 
in the estimation of his party, now rendered 
more aggressive and active than before. He 
could not be driven from the cabinet. Direct 
attacks upon him had clearly failed, and Jeffer- 
son made no effort to take up the shivered 
lance, which he had placed in another hand to 
use in the open lists. It only remained to stay 
in the cabinet and there contend with Hamilton 
for supremacy in guiding the course of the gov- 
ernment and winning the confidence and trust 
di Washington. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

Jj'OEEIGN EELATIONS AND THE MAINTENANCE 
OF THE AUTHORITY OF THE GOVERNMENT. 

I DO not propose to deal here with the ques- 
tion of the foreign relations of the United States 
at this period, for the subject i? one of the 
broadest scope, and fit only for a general history 
in the most comprehensive sense of the term. 
It was at this time that the foundation of the 
Bo-called Monroe doctrine was laid by Washing- 
ton's proclan?ation of neutrality, which marked 
out the true foreign policy of the United States 
by declaring that this republic of the new world 
would hold itself aloof from the struggles of 
Europe. The policy thus laid down was one of 
the great corner-stones placed by the wisdom 
of Washington's administration, and upon which 
the fabric of national greatness was founded. 
To convert the doctrine of the neutrality proc- 
lamation into a guiding and fundamental prin- 
ciple of the state, was the work of more than 
a quarter of a centur}^, and upon our foreign 
relations during that period the history of the 
Rountry turned. When they first come intd 



154 ALEXANDER HAMILTON. 

prominence during Washington's first term they 
mark the beginning of an important phase of 
our development. Between the proclamation 
of neutrality and the close of the war of 1812, 
this country adjusted its position among the 
nations of the earth, settled its foreign rela« 
tions which then drew the political lines in the 
United States, and on which the fate of our 
parties hung, and completed the work of the 
Revolution by breaking the fetters of thought 
as the war had severed the political bonds. In 
a word, for many years after the neutrality proc- 
lamation, the country was engaged in changing 
its ideas from those of colonies to those of a 
nation, and in struggling to make itself as inde- 
pendent mentally as it was politically. Into 
this broad and inviting field it is no part of my 
purpose to enter. My object is merely to show 
the place in it which Hamilton occupied, his 
opinions as to our foreign relations, and the 
part he* took in shaping our foreign policy. 
Above all I wish to depict his attitude in re- 
gard to the French revolution, which convulsed 
the minds of men throughout the civilized 
world far beyond its own borders, far beyond 
the regions even where its armies penetrated, 
and of which it may be truthfully said that 
Hamilton was one of the most illustrious vio. 
(dins both In hit! life and in his death. 



FOREIGN AFFAIRS IN 1789 165 

In March, 1789, our situation in regard to 
foreign nations was anything but enviable. 
England, with ill-concealed hatred, held the 
western posts, and refused, on account of the 
unpaid debts of British subjects, to indemnify 
us for the slaves which had been carried off dur- 
ing the war. She flouted our ministers, refused 
to send a representative to this country, and 
strove in every possible way to injure our com- 
merce, of which she had so lately enjoyed a 
monopoly. Our relations with the mother coun- 
try were, in short, as strained and mutually 
offensive as possible. With France, toward 
whom we felt as a people a sincere gratitude, 
they were hardly more favorable. Jefferson had 
failed to obtain from that country any better 
commercial treatment than was accorded by 
England. With Spain there was a chronic 
quarrel, and a dark cloud of war and aggression 
hung over the valley of the Mississippi. Ham- 
ilton felt that the first steps toward placing 
\he United States in the position which they 
ought to occupy, were the restoration of their 
credit and reputation, and the display of order, 
strength, and resources which this involved. 
He rightly believed that success and stability 
would do more than anything else to compel 
the respect and consideration of the rest of the 
world. So far as the various -lationn vere con- 



156 ALEXANDER HAMILTON. 

cerned, while as an individual citizen he waa 
inclined by his feelings toward France, as a 
statesman he clearly saw that all nations must 
be treated alike ; that, owing to her geograph- 
ical situation, America had no such things as 
natural alliances and enmities, but that at the 
same time on commercial grounds friendly rela- 
tions with England were vastly more important 
than with any other nation of the earth. With 
England, too, the objects at which HamiltOD 
aimed would count for more than anything else. 
Whatever inconsistencies England may have 
been guilty of, she has never swerved in civility 
and respect for success, strength, and wealth, 
and this Hamilton well knew. But he did not 
reckon on this alone. In his report on manu- 
factures a cardinal principle was that of retalia- 
tion, and the hand he meant thus to force was 
th6 hand of England. At the same time he 
regarded the efforts to discriminate between 
the various nations, that is, in favor of France 
and against England, on the ground of grati- 
tude to the one and hatred to the other, as 
wholly false in principle. Such a course would 
surely lead to further disagreements with the 
latter, and the object of the United States was 
not to indulge in sentiment but to build up it» 
national greatness and grow rich by its com 
merce. To treat all nations as they treated 



HAMILTON'S FOREIGN POLICY. 167 

as and to bury the past which should not be 
allowed to hamper the new government, was 
Hamilton's theory. He had no attachment to 
England, but rather the contrary. He admired 
the British constitution as the best system of 
free government in existence; like all his fel- 
low citizens he had been nurtured amid the 
English traditions of law and government, and 
he had no question that English principles in re- 
spect to law and government were, with proper 
modifications, best suited to the United States. 
Toward France he felt both affection and grati- 
tude, and in that country were many tried and 
loved friends and companions in arms. But he 
wished the new republic to lay aside all senti- 
ment and prejudice as well as all inconvenient 
memories and to start fair and free with a view 
only to her own interests, and a general deter- 
mination to treat all nations alike if they all 
behaved equally well ; to have no alliances, no 
friendships, and no enmities, but to cut loose 
from all complications and aim only at success. 
Hamilton's theory as exemplified in the finan- 
cial policy worked well. Evidences of respect 
abroad began to multiply. Washington, through 
Grouverneur Morris, sounded England in regard 
to the renewal of diplomatic relations, which 
had been practically severed since the day when 
Jchn Adams had be^n driven away from St 



158 ALEXANDER HAMILTON. 

James by a stupid insolence which England 
has always been fond of displaying toward thia 
country and which has cost her, first and last, 
many bitter lessons. The result of Washing- 
ton's experiment, backed by the rapidly grow- 
ing prosperity of the country and the increasing 
Btability of the government, was the appoint- 
ment of a minister to the United States in the 
person of Mr. George Hammond. This gentle- 
man was empowered to begin negotiations for a 
commercial treaty, but could conclude nothing. 
The reestablishment of commercial relations on 
a basis something like reciprocity was still dis- 
tant enough, but nevertheless a good deal had 
been gained by the mere renewal of diplomatic 
intercourse. Hammond's negotiations were not 
very fruitful, but they went on pretty steadily, 
and Hamilton took a considerable share in them 
from time to time, more, it must be confessed, 
than strictly belonged to him as Secretary of 
the Treasury. The truth was that Hamilton 
had a policy for the new government in every 
direction as well defined as in financial affairs, 
and he strove to put each and all into effect. 
He could not rid himself of the idea that he was 
really the prime minister, a notion encouraged 
by the way in which Congress had thrown all 
sorts of questions into his hands for decision. 
Moreover his schemes deserved and won the 



THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 159 

Bonfidence of Washington ; and the result was 
that Jefferson, entirely innocent of clear-cut, 
sharply defined plans and policies, and waiting 
to be guided by events, found himself, much 
oftener than was pleasant, pushed aside, ridden 
over, and, as in the case of Hammond, more or 
less interfered with. 

While the United States were thus making 
their way into the family of nations the French 
revolution began, and in a few years the newly 
launched ship of the young republic was tossing 
in the midst of the terrible storm which found 
its centre in Paris. The first news of the great 
movement in France was received in this coun- 
try with universal pleasure and delight by men 
of all shades of political belief. As to the 
benefits of a free constitution in a country to- 
ward which we felt so warmly, all persons, the 
ultra-Federalist and the radical opponent of the 
administration alike, were agreed and had a 
common gratification. But the rapid changes 
rolled on and one event succeeded another, 
each with terrible logic more dreadful than the 
last, and all hurrying to the worst extremes of 
violence. When reform became revolution, rev- 
olution anarchy, and redresa revenge; when hot- 
blooded killings in the street changed to cold- 
blooded massacre and cowardly murder in the 
prison and the palace, culminating at last in tho 



160 ALEXANDER HAMILTON. 

execution of the king and the daily slaughtei 
of the guillotine, then public opinion in Amer- 
ica shifted. First the timid and suspicious be- 
gan to doubt, then the more cautious began to 
fear, then such men as Washington and Ham- 
ilton lost sympathy with a battle for freedom 
fought in this wise, and the latter rebelled 
against comparing the French revolution with 
our own, saying, " The one is liberty, the other 
licentiousness." The general enthusiasm with 
which the French revolution had been greeted, 
faded away ; but while that conflict became dis- 
tasteful to the mass of the people and an object 
of suspicion and dislike to the Federalists, the 
revolutionary fever strongly infected certain 
elements which predominated among the ene- 
mies of the administration. As one side headed 
by Washington and Hamilton cooled towards 
France, the other side grew proportionately hot- 
ter in admiration and love for the principles of 
the revolution, just then becoming rather wild 
and uncertain. This widening rift between two 
bodies of public opinion was certain before 
long to breed a party issue. So long as men 
watched events in Paris and came to one con- 
clusion or another as a matter of abstract the- 
ory, no harm was done, but sooner or later these 
conclusions would be brought to the touch-stone 
af practical decision, and then the parties 'whict 



RELATIONS WITH FRANCE. 161 

aad been evoked by the revolution would begin 
a fierce conflict. Early in April, 1793, the 
aews arrived that war had been declared be- 
tween England and France, and that a new 
minister from the terrible republic had reached 
Charleston. The decisive moment had come, 
and Hamilton sent post-haste for Washington 
who was at Mount Vernon. When the Presi- 
dent reached Philadelphia, he found his two 
secretaries prepared to meet the crisis, the grav- 
ity of which no member of the administration 
doubted, but prepared to meet it in ways very 
different and highly characteristic of the two 
men. Jefferson loved France and the ideas of 
the revolution, and he hated England, but he 
also dreaded war, and had no desire to have the 
United States drawn into hostilities. Under 
these circumstances he was unable to make up 
his mind as 'to any definite plan. In order, 
therefore, to get, if possible, an expression of 
public opinion and thereby come to a deter- 
mination and be rid of responsibility, he pro- 
posed to call Congress at once in extra session. 
It is probable that he saw an opportunity to 
make party capital by the agitation of this sub- 
ject in debate, but it was at all events the only 
suggestion he had to offer to Washington. 
Hamilton on the otne" hand cared for neither 

England nor France, except so far as he loathed 
11 



162 ALEXANDER HAMILTON. 

the bloody anarchy of the one and respected tiwj 
stability and order of the other. His thoughts 
were fixed on the United States, unbiased by a 
sentiment for or against any other nation. For 
the United States he dreaded war almost as 
much as Jefferson did, but unlike his colleague 
he had not the slightest doubt as to the positiop 
to be taken at that trying moment, and he had 
fully made up his mind as to the true policy to 
be adopted. Hamilton had no desire to shift 
the responsibility of a duty which he conceived 
to belong to the executive, and which he also 
thought would be far safer in the hands of 
Washington than if it were tossed about in a 
legislative body. He had no wish, therefore, to 
have Congress called together ; but he prepared 
a series of questions embodying his views ; and 
these he submitted to Washington, who laid 
them before the cabinet. The policy outlined 
by these questions was the maintenance of a 
strong, strict, and genuine neutrality by the 
United States, to which the utmost publicity 
should be given, and then a careful considera- 
tion of our relations with France, in order that 
the past might not be so construed as to en- 
tangle us with the fortunes and conflicts of the 
revolution, and in that way drag us from our 
true position of absolute neutrality and conse- 
quent peace. The first question as to issuing a 



THE NEUTRALITY POLICY 163 

declaration of neutrality was carried in the af- 
firmative and the proclamation to that effect 
Boon appeared. This was really the central 
point of the whole policy of Washington and 
Hamilton, and was one of the great landmarks 
established by the Federalists for the guidance 
of the republic. There is no stronger example 
of tbe influence of the Federalists under the lead 
of Washington upon the history of the country 
than this famous proclamation, and in no ono 
respect did the individuality of Hamilton im- 
press itself more directly on the future of the 
United States. So little was it understood at 
the time that when thirty years later the same 
principle, in an extended form, was enunciated 
by Mr. Monroe's administration it was hailed 
as a new doctrine, and incorporated as a lead- 
ing article in the political creed of the United 
States. When adopted and put forth by Wash- 
ington, this truism of to-day was hardly appre- 
ciated. The colonial spirit, which was the spirit 
of the past, made it seem impossible that the 
United States should be wholly apart from the 
affairs of Europe. The Federalists acted on the 
principle thus laid down while they held power, 
maintaining a bold and strong neutrality, and 
ready to strike the first nation, no matter which 
it was, that dared infringe ^t After the fall 
»£ the Federalists this doctrine slipped out of 



164 ALEXANDER HAMILTON. 

sight. For a vigorous neutrality, ever on tlio 
alert and ready for war, was substituted a 
timid, exasperating policy of peace protected 
by commercial warfare. Ten years of bitter po- 
litical conflict, including three years of foreign 
war, was the result, and by this harsh process 
the colonial spirit was finally exorcised. Then 
the national foreign policy, formulated, devised, 
and adopted by Washington and Hamilton, was 
popularly accepted under the administration of 
Monroe. 

The primary question of neutrality was set- 
tled by the proclamation. It then became nec- 
essary to fix the character of this neutrality by 
a careful determination of our attitude towards 
the most aggressive, active, and dangerous of 
the belligerents, — the French republic. The 
Becond point therefore came on the reception 
of the minister of France, which was settled in 
the affirmative. Then followed a series of per- 
plexing questions as to receiving the minister 
with or without qualifications, and as to our 
relations to France under existing treaties. 
Up to this point the cabinet had succeeded in 
reaching an agreement, but now they diverged 
widely. Hamilton wished it distinctly under- 
stood that by receiving the French minister the 
United States did not admit that the treaties 
«rere now binding in their full extent. Thes^ 



THE NEUTRALITY POLICY. 165 

treaties provided, of course, for the payment of 
Dur debt to France, and also for the guarantee 
of the French possessions on this continent, and 
for a defensive alliance. Hamilton, who at the 
outset had done his best to expedite payments 
to the new government, had more recently be- 
gun to hold back. He now said that while 
there was no doubt of the general rule of inter- 
national law, that for treaty purposes the exist- 
ing government was to a foreign nation the 
same as any predecessor, yet this rule, like all 
others, required reasonable construction. The 
change of government in France, he added, was 
of such a nature as to alter every circumstance 
under which and for which the treaties had been 
made, and therefore the United States had the 
right to renounce them. Moreover, everything 
was so uncertain and shifting in France that to 
live up to the treaties with the present govern » 
ment might in a few months amount to a cause 
of war with its successor. Again, the war was 
not defensive, and so Hamilton concluded that 
all this should be plainly stated to the minister, 
BO that he might understand that we did not 
intend to be bound by the treaties. Hamilton's 
construction was, at least, that of the French 
Oonvention, which had just annulled a clause 
In one of the treaties, but it was also the sound 
and statesmanlike view His arguments go tc 



166 ALEXANDER HAMILTON. 

great length, and are clear and acute, as usual, 
but the central idea was as simple as it wa» 
wise. The French treaties were legacies of the 
past. They were colonial in spirit and in fact. 
The opportunity had now come to be rid of 
them legally and fairly. Hamilton's entire pol- 
icy was to take immediate advantage of the 
opportunity, cut loose from these entangling 
bonds, and thus assume in foreign affairs a 
wholly free and thoroughly national position. 
Jefferson, on the other hand, was for a rigid 
construction of the law of nations, and for the 
maintenance of the same close connection with 
the republic as with the monarchy, always bar- 
ring actual war. 

These contending views, however, and a de- 
cision upon them, were soon pushed aside by 
the appearance in person of Genet, the minister 
himself, who raised a series of difficult and ex- 
asperating questions of the most practical kind 
so quickly, that there was no time to consider 
general policies. The administration found 
enough to do in checking Genet's mischief 
without coming to any conclusion as to the 
qualifications with which he should be received, 
01 as to the statements which should be made 
ko him with reference to the attitude of the 
United States in regard to the treaties. The 
policy of the United States toward France 



ARRIVAL OF GENET. 161 

ivas, indeed, settled during these contests with 
her representative, and ultimately according to 
Hamilton's doctrines, but it was done bit by 
bit, in sore vexation of spirit, and not broadly, 
comprehensively, and quietly. 

Indeed, from the time when Genet came 
upon the scene, a settlement in the latter fash- 
ion was out of the question. The new minister 
was a bright, light-headed Frenchman, mad- 
dened by the wild ideas of Paris. He rushed 
from one excess to another from the day of his 
arrival until that on which his successor ap- 
peared, and he endeavored to raise about him a 
party to overthrow the administration. His first 
act was to fit out privateers at Charleston, and 
thence proceed with a sort of triumphal proces- 
sion northward to Philadelphia. DiflBculties 
now gathered thickly about the cabinet. The 
fitting out of privateers and the capture of prizes 
by these privateers, as well as the seizure of 
British vessels within our waters, all leading to 
expostulation and demands for redress on the 
part of the English minister, confronted the ad- 
ministration in a constant succession of cases. 
Hamilton, whose policy was not neutrality with 
a covert leaning to one side, but a genuine neu- 
trality treating all alike, took strong ground in 
favor of giving up at once the prize made by 
a French ship of war within our waters. He 



168 ALEXANDER HAMILTON. 

also urged the immediate stoppage, by all the 
force of the government, of the enlistment of 
seamen and fitting out of privateers by the 
French in our ports, and the surrender of all 
prizes of such privateers, or if restoration was 
impossible, then compensation on our part to 
the owners wherever we had failed in our duty 
as a neutral. The first point prevailed at once. 
The third was resisted by Jefferson as too much 
in favor of England, and as amounting to re- 
prisal. For a time decision on this point was 
suspended, but ultimately Hamilton's view re- 
ceived the sanction of Washington. On the 
fitting out of privateers a long struggle ensued 
between the French minister and the adminis- 
tration. Here a privateer would be stopped, 
and there one would escape. Americans were 
arrested and tried for infractions of neutrality 
by enlisting on the French privateers, and at 
last French consuls, who were undertaking to 
govern in this country as their fellows did in 
the states of Europe bordering on the terrible 
republic, were deposed from office and deprived 
of the right to exercise their functions. This 
^tting out of privateers finally culminated in 
the case of the Little Sarah, sent forth from 
Philadelphia in flagrant contempt of the goV' 
ernment, and beneath the very eyes of the cab- 
laeL Hamilton and Knox urged strongly and 



THE CONFLICT WITH GENET. 169 

characteristically the duty of placing a battery 
on one of the islands, and of firing upon the 
privateer if she attempted to escape. Thanks 
to Jefferson, however, who believed, or pre- 
tended to believe, that Genet had promised not 
to let the vessel go, and who was in a tremor at 
the idea of joining in " the combination of 
kings " and getting into war with France, Ham- 
ilton's plan was not carried out, the militia were 
withdrawn, and Genet sent the privateer at 
once to sea. Washington came back in a state 
of indignation, and Jefferson found himself so 
thoroughly uncomfortable that he now seriously 
thought of resignation. 

In other quarters Genet was equally active. 
He made a continuous effort to get all the 
money due to France. He anticipated payments 
so far as he could and then asked for more, and 
almost insisted that he should receive the whole 
amount either in money or provisions. But in 
the domain of the treasury Hamilton was mas- 
ter and unrestrained. Genet's loud demands 
passed idly by. The Secretary paid him what 
was due, allowed him a reasonable anticipation, 
and could not be moved to do more. When 
the Frenchman threatened to give notes on the 
United States for what he wanted, in order to 
dt out privateers and illegal armaments in the 
Southwest against Spain, Hamilton gave him 



170 ALEXANDER HAMILTON. 

fco understand that he might draw if he so 
pleased, but that his drafts would not be hon- 
ored. It is refreshing, amid the bewildering 
complications of that confused time, to see the 
vain beating of the Frenchman at the doors of 
the treasury, and the perfect success of Ham- 
ilton's cool, unalterable attitude. 

Genet, however, made even more trouble for 
the administration in our own politics than he 
did in the management of foreign relations. 
The sober and intelligent opinion of the country- 
had turned away in disgust from the excesses of 
the French revolution, but this opinion was si- 
lent and observant, and as yet inactive. On the 
other hand, the thoughtless and careless, the 
rabble in the larger cities, the foreign refugees 
from England and Ireland, and the more vio- 
lent elements of the opposition were infected by 
the excitement of the French. In contempla 
ting the objects of the movement in Europe, 
they overlooked the terrible means employed, 
and allowed their reason to be confused by the 
extravagant jargon of the new republic. The 
noise and enthusiasm were therefore with Genet. 
Banquets and processions, red caps, and dem- 
ocratic societies, and the ravings of Freneau 
and Bache in their newspapers, all brought the 
half-crazed Frenchman to believe that the peo- 
ple were with him, and that through them Lt 



THE CONFLICT WITH GENET. 171 

could force the government to do his pleasure. 
This agitation became so violent that Hamilton 
felt it to be necessary to evoke and give a lead 
to the opposite sentiment, and in the sum- 
mer of 1793 he published a series of essays 
signed " Pacificus," defending the proclamation 
and the policy of the administration. These 
papers, written in Hamilton's clear, convincing 
fashion, served their purpose of awakening the 
better part of the community to the gravity of 
the situation, and began the work of rallying 
the friends of the government to its active sup- 
port. Calmly but steadily the administration 
persisted in carrying out its policy, despite every 
obstacle, foreign or domestic, and in the neu- 
trality rules of August they laid down the prin- 
ciples of Washington and Hamilton as those 
by which they meant to stand, and by which 
the country should be guided in its foreign re- 
lations. 

Genet's language and the tone of his letters 
increased continually in violence, and became 
nt last so intolerable that the cabinet agreed to 
send his correspondence to Paris and ask for 
his recall. It was also resolved to furnish him 
with copies of this correspondence and of the 
demand for recall. Jefferson, whose private in- 
tercourse with Genet had been very different 
from his oflficial atticude, warmly opposed this 



172 ALEXANDER HAMILTON. 

disclosure, fearing that it would lead to an out- 
break. Hamilton, on the contrary, with all 
his fighting qualities now thoroughly aroased, 
wanted to go much farther. He wished in the 
first place that the recall should be made ic 
sharp and peremptory terras. He advocated, 
also, the immediate publication of all the cor- 
respondence, and a direct appeal to the people. 
To this proposition Washington inclined, but 
Jefferson succeeded in defeating it. Genet, 
however, soon made the appeal himself, by 
publishing a letter which raised a direct issue 
between the President and himself. The tide 
of public sentiment now turned strongly. The 
ruling elements in the community came for- 
ward, the administration found itself supported, 
the armaments in the West were checked, and 
the French consuls brought to terms or deposed. 
Again Hamilton and Washington wished to go 
farther and suspend Genet from the exercise of 
his functions, and again Jefferson checked and 
prevented decisive action. The result was that 
Genet went on for a few months longer insult- 
ing our government, and doing a good work 
in stimulating the public resentment against 
France, but his power for mischief ended when 
he appealed to the people against Washington. 
Hamilton's course in all these complications ie 
highly characteristic. After carefully watching 



THE CONFLICT WITH GENET. 173 

3vents in Europe, he advocated, when war waa 
declared, a sharply defined and strict neutrality, 
and then a firm but cautious severance of aU 
the entangling bonds which held us to France. 
But when Genet appeared with insults and ag- 
gressions, instead of negotiations and discus- 
sions, Hamilton, while still urging the rigid 
enforcement of a genuine neutrality, wished to 
lay aside diplomacy with the French minis- 
ter, and rebuke him openly and severely. He 
had, moreover, no desire for the assistance of 
Congress, but preferred to have the executive 
deal with the whole matter and meet every 
complication as it arose. Jefferson acted sim- 
ply as a drag on the policy of his colleague, 
which, nevertheless, finally prevailed at every 
point ; and it is perhaps in some degree due to 
the opposition of the Secretary of State that 
the administration came through all these trials 
BO successfully. Washington sympathized with 
Hamilton's views and ultimately gave his ap- 
proval to all of them. When Washington was 
angry, — as he was on one or two occasions in 
ihis eventful summer, — he was to the full as 
combative as Hamilton. It is very conceivable 
that there were moments when they might have 
moved too fast and struck too hard^ if it had not 
been for the persevering resistance of Jefferson. 
But however this may liave oeen, the policy of 



174 ALEXANDER HAMILTON. 

\ strong and impartial neutrality triumplied and 
was put in practice. At every step the two 
secretaries went farther apart, the one pushing 
on the successful policy, the other holding back, 
clinging to the French treaties, and professing 
that everything, neutrality and all, depended on 
the sanction of Congress. The summoning of 
that body was another point on which Jefferson 
had suffered defeat, and all this, joined to the 
false position in which he was placed, by holding 
one language officially, and another privately to 
Genet, by taking one attitude with his party 
friends and another in the cabinet, led to his 
resignation, which he with reluctance deferred 
until the assembling of Congress. 

When that body came together, the wisdom 
of not calling it before was plainly manifest. 
Genet had succeeded in one thing. *He had 
created a party issue, and had given a definite 
object to the motley masses of the opposition. 
The financial policy dropped out of sight, and 
the now united opponents of the administration 
fell with a swoop upon our foreign relations. 
Everything conspired to help them. While our 
government was trying to preserve neutrality 
and keep the country out of the current of the 
Trench revolution. Great Britain had begun 
that course of arrogant, aggressive interference 
<rith our commerce, which was perhaps the 



JEFFERSON LEAVES THE CABINET. 175 

Stupidest blunder she made in her protracted 
straggle with France, and which continued un^ 
til it produced war in 1812. This conduct gave 
the opposition precisely the handle they wanted. 
Then, too, Jefferson was enabled, just before he 
left oihce, to map out the course to be pursued 
by sending in to Congress all his correspondence 
with Genet and Hammond, and a report on our 
commerce which indicated that policy of com- 
mercial warfare destined in later years to be- 
come such a curse to the country. Hamilton, 
who appreciated the party purposes to be gained 
by this, opposed the transmission of the Ham- 
mond correspondence ; but Washington, who 
always rose above party, rightly decided that 
everything must go in. 

In his dealings with Genet, Jefferson had been 
under the supervision of the cabinet, and his 
work was therefore spirited and strong, while 
with Hammond he needed no incentive to take 
a bold attitude. The correspondence therefore, 
as a whole, was vigorous in tone, and having 
all the ability for which Jefferson was con- 
spicuous in letter-writing, deserves a high rank 
among our state papers. Invigorated by their 
leader's success, the opposition at once took up 
the line he had marked out in his commercial 
report — which was by no means a very able 
document— and Madison introduced resolutions 



•^; 



176 ALEXANDER HAMILTON. 

to establish duties against nations not in treaty 
with us. Hamilton knew that the more eminent 
leaders on his side would meet this question in 
their own way, but this did not content him. 
He could not reply to Madison personally, but 
he determined to do it through the mouth of 
another. He therefore equipped his friend, Mr 
Smith of South Carolina, with a speech, and in 
this way met Madison at the outset of the un- 
dertaking. Smith's reply, thus provided, was 
strong and effective. The Secretary lifted the 
question at once out of the confusion of foreign 
politics, and placed it on purely commercial 
grounds, arguing against the resolution on his 
constant principles that in trade this country 
should know neither friend nor enemy, but be 
governed wholly by its interests. The argu- 
ment was unanswerable, but the House passed 
the resolution against which it was directed. 
To the second resolution Nicholas offered an 
amendment, naming England as the object of 
the hostile discrimination ; but his own party 
was not ripe for this step, and the whole matter 
»7as postponed. Then came a fresh and worse 
aggression on the part of England in the form 
of an order in council to seize all vessels loaded 
with French produce. As ready to resent at- 
tack from one quarter as from another, Hamil- 
ton declared this order an outrage, and urgeo" 



THE FEDERALISTS PREPARE FOR WAR. 177 

Ihe fortification of the seaports and the imme- 
diate raising of troops. The Federalists in the 
House, adhering like their leaders to the doc- 
trines laid down by Washington, sprang forward 
with strong measures for an army, a navy, and 
an embargo, in order to prepare the country for 
war, which seemed indeed close at hand. The 
opposition, always prodigal heretofore of brave 
words, now held back, and stoutly resisted 
practical fighting measures, opposing particu- 
larly the bill to establish a navy, which subse- 
quently became law. They were ready enough 
for party purposes to declaim against England, 
to talk war and yet keep the peace. They were 
quite prepared to sequestrate debts, — a piece 
of swindling denounced by Hamilton, — and be 
as offensive as possible to England, but they 
were not half so ready to fight with their kins- 
men as were the " British " Federalists. It was 
plain that the country was drifting rapidly into 
war, which Washington saw clearly would be 
most perilous to the fortunes of the young na- 
tion. Hamilton's idea of a special mission to 
England met, therefore, with the warm ap- 
proval of Washington, who at once turned to 
his Secretary of the Treasury as the fittest man 
for this delicate and important task, an opinion 
in which he was fully sustained by the Feder- 
alist leaders. But the Virginia party, headed 

12 



178 ALEXANDER HAMILTON. 

by Madison and Monroe, greatly alarmed at 
bhe prospect of this appointment, made an Act- 
ive and bitter resistance. Washington, anxious 
above all things for the success of the mission, 
and in order to prevent the country from being 
torn with faction in the face of these foreign 
troubles, gave up his first choice and sent Jay, 
at the urgent recommendation oi Hamilton 
himself. The opposition in the Senate was 
bitter, but the nomination was confirmed ; and 
Jay's instructions, drawn in outline by Ham- 
ilton, were toned down and then adopted by 
the cabinet. There are few acts in our history 
which show greater force, courage, and address 
than were displayed by Washington and Ham- 
ilton in carrying through this appointment de- 
spite every obstacle and the most determined 
opposition which, even while it acquiesced in 
the selection of the envoy, sought by every 
means to hamper him and precipitate war. 
Under the circumstances it must be admitted 
that Washington was judicious. Yet Hamilton 
would undoubtedly have made a better treaty, 
and one more satisfactory to the country than 
that obtained by Jay. With all the senseless 
clamor about his British sympathies, Hamilton 
would have aimed to get as much as possible 
from England, by taking a high tone in the 
Qegotiation. This was shown by his draft of 



THE APPOINTMENT OF JAY. 179 

mstructions, which were modified by the cab- 
inet, in the direction of greater concessions to 
the English demands. He appreciated as en- 
tirely as any one the necessity of peace, and 
had plenty of tact and address, but he was 
far firmer, bolder, and more audacious than 
Jay, and these were the very qualities which 
were needed. The Jeffersonians were justly 
alarmed. If Hamilton made a successful treaty 
he would be stronger and more popular than 
ever, and it would all redound to the credit 
of his party, and to his own dreaded influence. 
If, on the other hand, he should make a treaty 
which conceded much to England, he would 
probably force it through the Senate, and we 
should then be closer to England and farther 
than ever from France. With these views the 
outcry against Hamilton was started. It may 
well be doubted whether by the most virulent 
resistance the opposition could have done much 
harm, but it was possible that they might, 
and therefore Washington prudently decided 
as he did. At all events, the appointment of 
Jay, a more conciliatory policy on the part of 
England, and the appearance of Fauchet to 
take Genet's place, brought an interval of 
calm in our foreign difl&culties, and permitted 
the administration to congratulate itself on 
the skill with which it had steered through 



180 ALEXANDER HAMILTON. 

the perils and complications of the past sis 
months. • 

We have already seen the tendency of Ham« 
dton in mind and temperament to distrust a 
pure democracy and to have faith only in a 
strong government and in the influence and 
power of the upper classes, even if those classes 
did not find, as he thought they should, direct 
recognition in the constitution. This tend- 
ency was turned into settled conviction as a 
matter of general principle by the spectacle pre- 
sented to his observation in Paris. When the 
matter, however, was brought directly home to 
him by Genet, by the popular support of France, 
and by the wild talk of the opposition press 
and speakers, Hamilton passed rapidly from 
the general to the particular and began to be- 
lieve not only that pure democracy was ab- 
stractly perilous, but that there were in this 
country, as in France, elements which consid- 
ered democracy and anarchy as convertible 
terms, and were bent on producing the latter. 

In what he called the " political putrefac- 
tion " of Pennsylvania, and in the disturbances 
of the western region of that State, Hamilton 
^ound, as he thought, a practical manifostation 
of the justice of his views as to the dangerous 
elements in our population. At last, too, the 
time had come when a pacific policy towardi 



THE ''WHISKEY REBELLIONS 181 

khe malcontents was plainl}^ impossible, and 
Hamilton was allowed to deal with what lie 
deemed the elements of anarchy, as he thought 
they should be dealt with, for it is unnecessary 
to say that Hamilton, for this contingency also, 
had a policy, obvious and simple enough, it 
may be admitted, but still well-defined and 
thorough in details. The trouble had, in trutli, 
been for some years coming to a head. The 
only serious criticism of Hamilton's financial 
policy is that it was too strong, that it strained 
the new fabric too severely, and this criticism 
always seeks proof in the excise law, which had 
been rendered necessary by the assumption of 
the state debts. Apart from the unanswerable 
economic arguments in favor of taxing spirits, 
Hamilton believed that unless the government 
could enact and enforce such a proper law the 
system of the constitution was really worth- 
less. The need of revenue carried the Excise 
Bill through Congress, in 1791, despite much 
bitter opposition. Its passage was the signal 
for the immediate display of a lawless and riot- 
ous temper in western Pennsylvania, where the 
manufacture of whiskey was chiefly carried on, 
and thence it spread rap^'dly through the sim- 
ilar regions of Virginia and North Carolina. 
A-t the next session amendments perfected and 
modified the oonoxious lavr while Hamilton 



182 ALEXANDER HAMILTON. 

devised every method to render its execution as 
easy as possible. 

Still the disorders went on, until in the sum- 
mer of 1792 they reached such a point that 
Hamilton, tired of the dilatory and ineffective 
processes of law, thought the moment had come 
for the direct and decisive application of force. 
Washington, however, was not ready for ex- 
treme measures, and so Hamilton drafted a 
proclamation, which Washington sent to Jef- 
ferson, who countersigned it, declaring privately 
that he wholly disapproved it. The proclama- 
tion and Washington's journey through the 
South had a good effect, and the disorder sub- 
sided in Virginia and North Carolina. But 
in Pennsylvania the state of affairs continued 
to grow steadily worse, and the opposition to 
Hamilton's vigorous attempts to enforce the 
law grew more violent. Finally, Congress gave 
the executive additional powers, which were 
Borely needed, but their exercise was the sig- 
nal for armed resistance to the officers of the 
United States. From gross and brutal out- 
rages upon property and persons, the insurgents 
passed to open defiance of the law. The United 
States mail was stopped, large bodies of armed 
men gathered, and the speeches and publica- 
tions of the leaders proclaimed the overthrow 
of the government. The emergency had come 



THE ''WHISKEY rebellion:' 183 

Rnd Washington met it as he did every crisis, 
calmly, firmly, and successfully. Hamilton was 
at his side, ready with every detail. He had 
carefully and characteristically estimated the 
number of men capable of bearing arms in the 
insurgent counties, and knew precisely how 
many troops would be needed. The States re- 
sponded to the call of the President, and with 
fifteen thousand men the administration faced 
the incipient rebellion. 

Hamilton after his own energetic fashion 
wanted to serve as an officer, but finding this 
impracticable accompanied Washington and the 
army, and later went on without the President 
in general superintendence of the operations. 
It was his policy, and he was determined to 
carry it through even at the point of the bay- 
onet, if the ordinary machinery of the law 
proved powerless. An attempt at negotiation 
was made by the frightened and more cautious 
among the leaders of the insurrection. The 
government readily gave them this last chance, 
but the conference came to nothing, and the 
army moved forward and spread through the 
disaffected region. Then the insurrection faded 
helplessly and bloodlessly away. It disappeared 
not only completely, but ridiculously and with 
humiliation to the vanquished. Gradually the 
disaffected came in and submitted, and were 



184 ALEXANDER HAMILTON, 

treated with the leniency which is so strong a 
fcrait in the American character. Hamilton 
himself showed a forbearance not a little re- 
markable in a man of his bold and imperious 
nature. But he was too wise to seek punish- 
ment or revenge. He had triumphed. His 
policy was vindicated. It had not been too 
strong for the government, but had shown, od 
the contrary, the force and vitality of the new 
system. The power put forth had been sim- 
ply overwhelming, and insurrection had been 
crushed without leaving any memory of blood- 
shed to rankle in the hearts of the people. The 
financial policy had in truth converted the sys- 
tem of the constitution into a living, vigorous 
organism, and the unshrinking exercise of force 
by the administration, which was wholly due to 
Washington and Hamilton, brought to the gov- 
ernment new strength, vigor, and respect. The 
suppression of the "whiskey rebellion" had 
shown the government to be capable of main- 
taining itself against armed resistance. The 
lesson of Shays' rebellion had not been wasted, 
and the contrast thus afforded between the gov- 
ernment of the confederacy and that of the con- 
stitution was the crown of the masterly domestic 
policy which had been begun by the first report 
on the public credit. 

When Congress came together the victory of 



THE DEMOCRATIC SOCIETIES. 185 

the administration was apparent in the en- 
feebled action of the opposition, and the Feder- 
alists were not slow to take advantage of it. 
Among Genet's legacies, and by far the most 
objectionable, were the Democratic societies, 
Bo-called, modelled on the famous " clubs " of 
Paris. They were worthless, noisy assemblages, 
given to useless agitation. Hamilton, perhaps, 
saw in them the same capabilities for mischief, 
the same anarchical tendencies, as in their Paris- 
ian prototypes, but both he and Washington 
and the Federalists generally considered them 
dangerous, obnoxious, and by their clamorous 
folly largely responsible for the outbreaks in 
Pennsylvania. Washington, therefore, strongly 
sustained by Hamilton, smote them with all 
the force of his rarely used personal influence 
and popularity. He denounced them in his 
message ; the Senate supported him, and after 
a heated debate in the House the opposition, 
despite their majority, were unable to protect 
their beloved associations. The blow, sharply 
struck and well calculated in point of time, was 
decisive. The societies withered away, and Ge- 
net's work was at an end. This closed the first 
chapter in the historv of the struggles growing 
out of the French revolution. The administra- 
tion had come through this period of trial with 
perfect success. Neutrality had been estab- 



186 ALEXANDER HAMILTON. 

lished and maintained, the wild sympathy with 
France had been checked and discredited, do- 
mestic insurrection had been put down and na- 
tionality had been advanced and strengthened 
beyond all former expectations. 

At the session of Congress in the previous 
year, when the opposition were throwing them- 
selves upon our foreign relations, delighted to 
abandon the financial questions where they had 
suffered such defeat, Hamilton, with the fixed 
purpose that the attacks upon his character 
should not rbst where they were, demanded fur- 
ther investigation. The most searching scru- 
tiny was of no avail, and the opposition were 
more than ever disgusted with their mistake. 
After the lapse of another year Hamilton put 
the finishing touch to the funding system by a 
comprehensive scheme for the redemption of 
the entire debt. While this measure was on 
its passage, and after the galling results to the 
opposition of their investigation were well 
known, he laid down his oJBSce and retired from 
public life. He had been for some time con- 
templating this step, which had become impera- 
tive on account of his private affairs, and of the 
absolute 'need of an increased income to pro- 
vide for his large family. He had been in 
office for nearly six years, and his work was 
ilono, his opinions and his personality were in- 



HAMILTON LEAVES THE CABINET. 187 

delibly impressed upon our frame of govern- 
ment and upon our political development. We 
look in vain for a man who, in an equal space 
of time, has produced such direct and lasting 
effect* upon our institutions and history. 



CHAPTER IX. 

THE JAY TREATY AND THE ADAMS ADMINIS- 
TRATION. 

If anything could have kept Hamilton in the 
cabinet it would have been a knowledge of the 
crisis which was to arise upon the reception oi 
the Jay treaty. He was, of course, well aware 
of the fierce opposition excited by the creation 
of the mission ; he knew of the public meetings, 
of the ravings of extreme Democrats, both in 
the newspapers and on the platform, and of the 
burnings in efiigy of the excellent and eminent 
ambassador. But he regarded all these things 
as temporary ebullitions, which, as he foresaw, 
died away into quiet while Jay was carrying on 
his negotiations with Lord Grenville. Hamil- 
ton perceived, too, that, apart from the outward 
manifestations, there was a profound interest in 
the result of Jay's mission, and that there would 
be a party conflict over its ratification. At the 
same time he certainly did not anticipate that 
8uch a shock would be produced as that which 
actually occurred when the contents of the 
treaty became known. But then Hamilton did 



THE RATIFICATION OF THE J AT TREATY, 189 

liot expect such a result from the special mis- 
Bion. Rumor, speaking to us in the person of 
Jefferson, says that Hamilton called it an " old 
woman's treaty," when he first read it. To his 
penetrating mind and bold, dashing tempera- 
ment, it may well have seemed that such an 
epithet was just. The treaty was certainly not 
Buch a one as he himself would have made. 
But he was called upon to deal with it as it 
stood, and on the broad ground of whether it 
should be accepted with all its defects, or re- 
jected in favor of almost certain war. 

The treaty went to the Senate, was ratified 
there, except the highly objectionable prohib- 
itory clause in the twelfth article, and then 
went back to the President for final decision. 
Through the closed doors of the Senate the 
treaty slipped out, and was soon public prop- 
erty. When it became known, there was an 
outburst of popular indignation which has 
hardly ever been equalled in the history of the 
country. The wrath excited was partly justi- 
fiable, for some of the stipulations were far 
from what had been reasonably expected, and 
the fire was assiduously fanned by the partisans 
of France. The people judged hastily, and, in 
large measure, without reflection. The tem- 
pest swept through the country, accompanied 
with violent denunciation, insults te the Brit- 



190 ALEXANDER HAMILTON. 

ish flag, rioting, burning in effigy, and every 
Bpecies of wild disorder ; even tlie sturdy Fed- 
eralist States of New England were swept from 
their moorings, and joined in the general out* 
cry. 

In the midst of all the hurly-burly stood the 
grand figure of Washington, calm, watchful, 
unterrified, making up his mind silently, and 
with "truth only for his guide." Here and 
there a few of the coolest and wisest among the 
Federalists saw the necessity of ratification and 
of standing by the President, and with their 
accustomed boldness and ability they faced the 
apparently hopeless odds arrayed against them. 
Foremost among them was Hamilton, ever 
present where the fray was thickest, and al- 
ways first to come forward when a fight, espe- 
cially if it was a desperate one, was in progress. 
He appeared at a great public meeting in New 
York to endeavor to check the raging opposi- 
tion by fair discussion. Debate then and there 
was out of the question. Persuasive eloquence 
had for the moment lost its charm, and when 
Hamilton began to speak he was howled down 
a:\d assailed with a volley of stones, one of 
which struck him on the forehead. With per^ 
feet coolness he said, " If you use such striking 
arguments, I must retire," and withdrew from a 
son teat which at the moment was hopeless. Bu 



THE ESSAYS OF '' CAMILLUS.'' 191 

he retreated only to enter another field. Four 
days after he had been stoned appeared the 
first number of tbe series of essays signed 
" Camillus," in defence of the treaty, in favor 
of the neutrality and peace policy, and in sup- 
port of the administration. 

These essays continued to appear for a year, 
and until the weight of public opinion was once 
more on the side of their author. " Camillus " 
was singularly effective, and the best proof of 
his power came from his adversaries. Jeffer- 
son was particularly disturbed. He felt very 
keenly the truth of Burr's remark, that any one 
who put himself on paper with Hamilton was 
lost. At the same time he was willing and 
even anxious that some one else should run the 
risk of wreck in a conflict with " the Colossus 
of the Federalists," and he therefore urged the 
unattractive duty upon Madison. That gentle- 
man, however, had as little stomach for the 
fight as his chief, and prudently held back. 
Others less able and less wary than their lead- 
ers entered the field with replies of various 
merit and various classical signatures, and were 
beaten and driven off. Whatever may be said 
of Hamilton in other re.spects, in political con- 
troversy, in the art of moulding, creating, and 
controlling public opinion by discussion and 
debate in the newspapers, he stood absolutely 



192 ALEXANDER HAMILTON. 

without a rival. Ready, persuasive, transparent 
in reasoning, and formidable in retort, he never 
failed, when he took up his pen, to create a 
profound impression or to sway the minds of 
thinking men, and he never, except in the 
" Federalist," worked under greater difficulties 
nor with greater saccess than when he entered 
the lists as " Camillus." 

But when Hamilton first began to write the 
clouds had gathered thick and black ; it seemed 
as if the popular rage would infallibly lead to 
war, and in order to make the position of the 
President still more difficult England, with her 
customary stupidity, seized that moment to re- 
new the obnoxious provision order. This gave 
pain even to those most anxious for peace. To 
Hamilton it seemed intolerable ; to Washington 
hardly to be endured. Outraged by the nation 
with which he was seeking to make peace, with 
his own party deraoiialized and hushed, and 
with the opposition in full cry urging on the 
popular clamor, the President faced the great 
question. With that high, serene, silent cour- 
age which he always showed, whether in the 
shock of unsuccessful battle or in the din of 
hostile politics, Washington deliberated. He 
woald do his duty, — that was a matter of 
course. As to what that duty was, he felt 
but little doubt. But with the almost painful 



WASHINGTON RATIFIES THE TREATY. 193 

Bense of justice and responsibility which always 
characterized him, Washington wished to kno\v 
all sides. He consulted but few persons, and 
among those few Hamilton was first, as much 
so as if he had never left the cabinet. Hamil- 
ton on his side responded as fully and zealously 
as if he were still the President's Secretary. He 
inclined to an attempt for further negotiation, 
and advised a refusal to exchange ratifications 
unless the provision order should be rescinded. 
On the general principle that the treaty, which 
meant peace on honorable if not on advantage- 
ous terms, was better than war, he sympathized 
with Washington. At Washington's request 
he drew up a summary of the arguments on 
both sides with that clearness in appreciating 
all points in a case which made him such a 
valued adviser to a man summoned to give a 
grave decision. He was disposed, on the whole, 
to be rather more aggressive and less sacrificing 
than Washington, as was natural to his temper- 
ament, but when the President finally acted, 
ratified the treaty, and sent it to England with 
*i sharp remonstrance against the provision 
order, Hamilton fully sustained him. In all 
the struggle which followed in repelling at- 
tacks on the administration, and during the 
•lerce contest over the treaty in the House, he 
played the same leading part He war} iha 

13 



194 ALEXANDER HAMILTON, 

trusted counsellor of Washington, the adviser 
of the party leaders, and the man to whom all 
the most -ictive Federalists turned for sugges- 
tions, for arguments and for unfailing aid by 
tongue and pen, In letters and through the 
press. 

While Hamilton was occupying this impor- 
tant and influential position in the party and 
before the country, the Presidential election 
came on. Washington had withdrawn from 
the field, and the serious problem of selecting 
a candidate for the succession confronted the 
Federalists. They faced this question for the 
first time, and on the result, as after events 
showed, the fate of the party largely depended. 
There were four men from whom the choice, as 
it seemed at the time, must be made, — Ham- 
ilton, Adams, Jay, and Thomas Pinckney of 
South Carolina. Hamilton was the head of the 
Federalists, but he was the leader of the lead- 
ers rather than of the party. He never had a 
strong hold on the people, or on the rank and 
file even of his own party. Moreover, he was 
the man most hated and feared by the opposi- 
tion. He was the incarnation of the whole 
federalist policy from the foundation of the 
ijovernment, and as a candidate he would have 
iroused enmities too fierce to have permitted 
his election. This was plainly seen, and by nt 



ADAMS NOMINATED FOR THE PRESIDENCY. 195 

Dne more plainly than by Hamilton himself, for 
there is no evidence that he ever gave the idea 
of securing the Federalist nomination for the 
Presidency serious consideration, or was influ- 
enced by it for a moment. Jay's name was so 
<»losely associated w:th the conflict of the treaty 
4S to put him, too, out of the lists. Pinckney 
was well known and popular, especially on ac- 
count of the brilliant success of his treaty with 
Spain, but he was a new man and a southerner, 
and the Federalist strongholds were in the 
North. There remained John Adams, who was, 
with the exception of Hamilton, the most con- 
spicuous man in the party, and he had had a 
long and distinguished career. He contended 
with Hamilton, also, for the perilous honor of 
being the chief mark for the concentrated dis- 
like of the opposition. But he was, on the 
other hand, still revered for eminent services in 
the Revolution, his name still awakened the 
memories of the great conflict for independence, 
and he had in this way a hold upon the body of 
the party and upon the popular imagination. 
Moreover, he was a northern man and in the 
line of promotion. *4^^ 

It was therefore determined by the party 
eaders to vote for Adams and Pinckney for the 
Srst and second offices respectively ; a wise 
conclusion, whi^h made what would, in the Ian 



196 ALEXANDER HAMILTON. 

guage of to-day, be called a " strong ticket." 
Unfortunately the constitution did not then ad- 
mit of a " ticket." The person receiving the 
highest number of votes was President, the 
next highest Vice-President. This opened the 
door to an infinite amount of management and 
intrigue in the electoral colleges. The Feder- 
alists were well aware that their chance of suc- 
cess was narrow, and that no votes could be 
spared. Hamilton's views were simple enough. 
He wished first to hold the administration in 
the party, and then to win the second place for 
a Federalist and exclude Jefferson. , To do this 
he urged upon all his friends the policy of vot- 
ing strictly for both Adams and Pinckne}^ and 
of throwing no votes away. In so doing he was 
right, clearly and beyond all question, and the de- 
parture from this policy elected Jefferson to the 
second place. By its adoption two contingent 
cies were possible : either Adams and Pinckney 
would receive an equal number of votes, which 
would throw the decision into the House of 
Representatives, and probably give the elec- 
tion to Adams ; or — and this was the hypothe- 
sis fatal to the scheme — the South would throw 
Rway their votes for Adams and make Pinck- 
ney President. To this latter contingency 
Hamilton was indifferent. Indeed, it is prettj 
dear that he preferred Pinckney, because he 



HAMILTON'S PREFERENCE FOR PINCKNEY. 197 

felt that he would then continue to be the con- 
fcrolling influence with the administration, while 
his observation had led him to suspect that the 
reverse would probably be the case under 
Adams. In letting his preference for Pinck- 
ney, or rather his indifference of choice as be- 
tween Pinckney and Adams, be known, Hamil- 
ton made a mistake. As the principal leader of 
the party he was bound to sink personal prefer- 
ences and support the choice of the party for 
the first place without any reservation, and he 
should have put the plan of voting equally for 
both candidates, solely on the ground of party 
success, treating the possible election of Pinck- 
ney as a thing never to be considered, much less 
viewed with indifference. How far Hamilton's 
position injured his own policy of voting it 
would now be difl&cult to say. The plan was 
doomed to defeat, because South Carolina would 
not vote for a northern man, a fact of which 
New England, unluckily, was well aware. The 
result was, that both sections threw away votes, 
electing Adams by a bare plurality of three, 
and defeating Pinckney, bringing about exactly 
the mischief Hamilton had striven so earnestly 
to prevent, the choice of Jefferscn as Vice-Pres- 
ident. 

When Adams was inaugurated the situation 
WQA both novel and difficult. Adjims, anlike 



198 ALEXANDER HAMILTON. 

Washington, was elected by a party and strictly 
fts a party man. He was by virtue of his office 
the head of the party de jure. But despite the 
President's hold upon the people, Hamilton, ow- 
ing to his brilliant services and his predominant 
influence with almost all the party leaders, was 
the head of the Federalists de facto. On the re- 
lations existing between these two men, there- 
fore, the welfare of the party largely depended. 
Both Adams and Hamilton were honestly anx- 
ious for the success of their party, for the well- 
being and advancement of their country, and 
for the maintenance of the cardinal principles 
of Washington's administration. Unfortunately 
they entered upon this new and trying period 
in the career of their party with feelings of 
coolness, if not of mutual distrust. Hamilton 
had taken votes from Adams at the first elec- 
tion to make sure that the selection of Wash- 
ington for the first place should not be endan- 
gered. In the years which followed, Adams 
gave a sturdy and often decisive support to the 
treasury measures and to the general policy of 
the administration, so that at the second elec- 
tion he received Hamilton's hearty support for 
t'ae Vice-Presidency, and their relations were 
then cordial. In the third election Adams was 
aware of Hamilton's policy of equal voting 
which he hastily attributed to nothing but the 



RELATIONS OF ADAMS AND HAMILTON. 199 

latter's preference for Pinckney. This revived 
the memory of the first election, and Adams 
quickly set down the whole thing as one long 
continued and jealous intrigue. Hamilton had 
erred at the first election by taking doubtful 
action for which there was no occasion. His 
policy at the last was wise and right, but he 
made the mistake of not burying his personal 
preferences and keeping them out of sight. 

When Adams came to the head of the gov- 
ernment he regarded Hamilton as guilty of the 
almost unpardonable sin of want of respect to- 
ward himself, as prone to intrigue, grasping, 
dictatorial, and of great power in the party. 
Hamilton, on his side, thought Adams unrea- 
sonable, unmanageable, at times wrong-headed, 
in short, unsafe; and he had unfortunately been 
at very little pains in the recent past to conceal 
these opinions. Hamilton had gone out of office 
in good faith and he had no desire to regain it, 
but he had a profound interest in the fate of the 
Federalist policy which had made the union, 
and which was so largely the work of his own 
Hands. He, therefore, was anxious to retain 
his influence with the administration and bis 
power in the party. His position entitled him 
to confidence and consultation, and he was by 
no means a difficult counsellor, nor anxious to 
absorb all credit to himself. If the work was 



200 ALEXANDER HAMILTON. 

well done Hamilton cared little who did it. 
When on one or two occasions he grasped at the 
ensigns of command, it was because he honestly 
believed that he was the only man fit to bear 
their weight. He was a severe and penetrating 
critic, but he was neither jealous nor captious. 
It was perfectly easy to manage Hamilton and 
win his cordial support. Washington had nevei 
found the slightest difficulty in dealing with him 
in or out of office. All that was required was 
tact, full and frank consultation, and the defer- 
ence to which his opinions were on every ground 
entitled. 

Tact in managing men, however, was conspic- 
uous in John Adams chiefly by its absence. 
Fear did not enter into his composition, and he 
was sure to do what he believed to be right at 
all hazards, but he could not be right gracefully 
and with address. Every dictate of prudence 
and of party obligation bound liim to consult 
Hamilton, and yet he undertook to ignore him 
first and crush him afterwards. Hamilton, on 
his part, when he found that the President was 
prejudiced against him, and bolted wildly at the 
thought of being influenced by him, should have 
supported the administration when he could, 
and if his advice openly offered was neglected 
should have remained passive so long as he 
uou^d consistently remain in the par^y. This 



RELATIONS OF ADAMS AND HAMILTON. 201 

trould have been not only wise, but dignified 
Rnd in keeping with his position, and it would 
not have concealed his opinions or diminished 
their due weight with the party at large. Un- 
fortunately such a course required very great 
Belf-control, which was difficult to Hamilton's 
imperious and energetic nature. Instead of 
either leaving Mr. Adams alone or openly re- 
sisting him in the party, he undertook to force 
the President's hand, through his power over 
the cabinet and the leaders in Congress. The 
result of such relations between these two chiefs 
was certain to cause an open breach as soon as 
they differed in policy, and equally sure to 
produce disaster to the party. 

Washington had settled the English ques- 
tion Danger in that quarter was removed, and 
the means employed to effect the removal were 
one fruitful cause of peril in another direction. 
In proportion as our relations with England 
improved those with France grew worse. Mr. 
Monroe, after a career of light-headed mischief 
unparalleled in our diplomatic history, had 
finally been recalled from France. Mr. Charles 
Pinckney had been sent in his stead, and had 
been refused a reception. With matters in this 
state and on the heels of a savage controversy 
mth the French minister Mr. Adams took the 
helm. The country was again on the verge of 



202 ALEXANDER HAMILTON. 

war, and the first question whicli confronted the 
administration was the settlement of this diffi- 
culty. The question was whether we should 
stand upon our dignity and prepare at once for 
war, or make another effort for peace. 

The decision of this question brought to light 
the existence of a third faction which agreed 
neither with Hamilton nor Adams, although in 
general sympathy with the former. Its repre- 
sentative and most active leader was Colonel 
Pickering, the Secretary of State, and it found 
its principal support among the Federalists of 
New England. Hamilton regarded the French 
republic with unqualified dislike and distrust. 
He believed that the war they were then wag- 
ing was directed against everything he held 
most precious, against constitutional liberty, law, 
order, and society. At the same time he was 
too much of a statesman not to perceive that 
war ought to be avoided by us if it was possi- 
ble, and that the policy which he had advocated 
with reference to England should also be pur- 
sued toward France. The cabinet faction, go- 
ing beyond Hamilton in their hatred of French 
principles, believed that the sooner we were 
committed to open hostilities with the great re- 
public and all that it represented the better, 
A.dams, however, took the same view as Hamil 
»on, and the policy of sending three speoia 



riRST PEACE COMMISSION TO FRANCE. 203 

peace commissioners prevailed. Before the 
force of the united opinion of the two chief 
leaders all factions were powerless, and this 
shows only too plainly the terrible blunder 
made by Adams, in not making it his first ob- 
ject to consult with Hamilton, and act in con- 
junction with him. So far all went well; but 
on the composition of the commission, which 
was of deep political importance in any event, 
and which in case of war was sure to be of the 
greatest moment in its effect upon public opin- 
ion, Adams and Hamilton parted company. 

All were agreed that Pinckney must be one 
of the three commissioners, and that the com- 
mission ought to consist of two Federalists And 
one Democrat. Pinckney represented the 
South, and Hamilton wished tliat the other 
Federalist should be taken from the North, and 
«;hat the Democrat should be Madison or even 
Jefferson, — in other words a leading Virginian 
and Democrat who was widely known and per- 
sonally respected by all parties, a " character," 
as Hamilton expressed it, "in whom France 
and the opposition had full reliance." Adams, 
carried away by the suspicion that an attempt 
was being made to force upon him a nomination 
from the Hamiltonian faction in New England, 
took Marshall, from Virginia, and Gerry, as the 
Democrat, from Massachusetts. To take both 



ALEXANDER HAMILTON. 

Federalists from the South, where the party had 
no strength, was hardly wise, but to take a 
northern Democrat in place of Madison, espe- 
cially a man of Gerry's slender abilities, was a 
most serious blunder. Gerry brought discredit 
on the mission by his weakness and over- confi- 
dence, and produced a good deal of mischief, 
although it may be questioned whether he af- 
fected materially the general result. His ap- 
pointment was not only a poor one in itself, but 
it had a bad effect at home, exasperated the feel- 
ing in certain quarters against the President, 
was generally considered injudicious, and caused 
Adams much subsequent annoyance. The gen- 
eral policy of Washington's time was, however, 
maintained. As in the case of Jay, Hamilton 
was for very "^tiff instructions, at first almost 
unreasonably so, and as in the former instance^ 
milder counsels prevailed, and the envoys went 
forth upon their mission. 

The result is well known. The commission- 
ers were insulted and outraged in every possible 
way. They were improperly received; and when 
attempts to bully and bribe had failed to sway 
them they were driven from France. To the 
opposition clamoring for information about the 
negotiation with their beloved France, Mr. Ad- 
ams sent in the famous X. Y. Z. correspondence 
The mixture of swindling and browbeating 



THE X. T. Z. LETTERS. 205 

khus disclosed, heightened as it was by news of 
a decree far surpassing its predecessors in de- 
fiance of neutral rights, and by the burning of 
one of our vessels by a French privateer, lighted 
up a hot flame of indignation which swept rap- 
idly and fiercely over the country, setting it 
ablaze with the spirit of war. 

This exposure utterly discredited also the 
party of the opposition friendly to France and 
broke them down completely. One by one they 
slipped away from Congress where they had a 
majority, leaving the undaunted Gallatin to 
face not merely defeat, but what seemed to be 
disgrace. Jefferson, with a discomfited whine, 
bowed before the storm, and even Giles is said 
for the moment to have lost a little of his usual 
rough effrontery. With the Federalists of 
course everything was just the reverse. Enthu- 
Biastic addresses poured in upon the President, 
who responded to them with equal fervor, and 
in a most spirited manner. In the press, and at 
public meetings, men rivalled each other in de- 
nunciation of France. War vessels were fitted 
DUG by private subscription and presented to the 
government ; and Marshall, returning to be re- 
ceived with fetes and banquets, raised the pub- 
lic wrath to a still higher pitch. The Federal- 
ists cai ned rapidly all the strong measures oi 
defence which they deemed essential — a provl- 



206 ALEXANDER HAMILTON. 

Bional army and an increase of troops, of fortifi 
cations, and of the navy. At the next generaj 
election they triumphed, and foand themselves 
In possession for the first time of a strong ma- 
jority. The conduct of France raised them to 
the zenith of their power, but it was of short 
duration, and their strength brought with it the 
events which reduced them soon after to utter 
ruin. The first result was the fight made by the 
President against the appointment of Hamilton 
to the command of the provisional army. 

Washington was selected as commander-in- 
chief, and consented to serve, provided he should 
not take an active part until the army should 
be actually in the field, and provided further that 
he should have the choice of the officers who 
were to be next him in rank and to act as his 
Btaff. Washington was clearly of opinion that 
the army ought to be constituted de novo, and 
that there should be no question of revolution- 
ary rank. He accordingly sent to the President 
a list of major-generals, in the following order : 
Hamilton, Charles Pinckney, and Knox. This 
gave the practical command and the work of 
crganization to Hamilton. Mr. Adams sent 
Washington's name at once to the Senate, and 
then the major-generals in the order prescribed 
by Washington. This done, he wheeled abou* 
when it came to signing the commissions, and 



THE AFFAIR OF TEE MAJOR-GENERALS. 207 

took the ground that Knox was the senior ofiGcer 
on account of his revolutionary rank. He dis- 
regarded the fact that by the precedents of the 
Congress of the confederacy officers ranked in 
the order of their confirmation. He refused to 
admit that Hamilton was the man best fitted 
for the post, and was so considered by the pub- 
lic ; he plunged himself and his party into a 
bitter personal quarrel, and all because he dis- 
liked Hamilton, and was enraged at the op- 
position of the cabinet to himself. 

The President's course led to an immediate 
and desperate struggle. Not only the cabinet, 
but all the leading Federalists, urged upon him 
the adoption of Washington's list. He alien- 
ated Knox from Hamilton, who was a friend of 
long standing, and ultimately caused the for- 
mer's resignation, while Pinckney on his return 
fully admitted the propriety of the appoint- 
ments, and cheerfully took service in the rank 
assigned by Washington. The pressure of opin- 
ion upon the President grew stronger constantly, 
and yet although he writhed a good deal in an- 
ger, he seemed to become more fixed in his pur- 
pose. The Federalist leaders, deeply alarmed, 
turned to Mount Vernon for assistance. In un- 
mistakable language Washington told Adams 
that if the agreement made between them was 
not adhered to he shoulJ resign. A dims was a 



208 ALEXANDER HAMILTON. 

bold and stubborn man, but he dared not fac« 
the displeasure of Washington and the conse« 
quences of his resignation on such a question. 
In bitterness of spirit he gave way, and ap- 
pointed Hamilton to the first place, and the sense 
of defeat changed keen dislike to an almost 
venomous hatred of the man whom he chose to 
think his rival. The conduct of Adams in this 
whole affair is utterly indefensible. There is 
not a single valid reason for the course he took. 
From a personal feeling he brought on a bitter, 
senseless, and perfectly futile quarrel, weakened 
the party and himself, and all because he dis- 
liked the man who happened to be best fitted 
for the command of the army. No adverse crit- 
icism can be made upon Hamilton, except that 
while at first he quietly accepted the situation 
to which he was called by Washington and the 
party, after the contest over his appointment 
began, he exhibited a rather disagreeable and 
aggressive self-assertion common enough in men 
of great abilities and commanding wills, and 
from which he was on rare occasions not wholly 
free. Thus the appointment was finally made 
leaving a legacy of heart-burning, a memory of 
compulsion and defeat on one side, and of in 
\ustice and triumph on the other. 

With his accustomed zeal, Hamilton at once 
threw himself into his new work, and gave hira 



THE ORGANIZATION OF THE ARMY. 209 

self up to it heart and soul. His task was that 
of organization and preparation, for which he 
Dad a peculiar genius, and it is needless to say 
that his work was of the best. He was first 
called upon to draft a plan for the fortification 
of the harbor of New York and superintend its 
execution, funds having been appropriated by 
the State for that purpose. This was somewhat 
outside the regular path of his duty, but he gave 
it his attention and made the necessary arrange- 
ments. Soon after he met Washington and 
Pinckney at Philadelphia and drew up a scheme 
which Washington adopted for the apportion- 
ment of officers and men among the States, for 
a recruiting system, and for supplies, arsenals, 
camp equipages, and ordnance. In a second 
paper, likewise accepted by Washington, he laid 
out a plan for the organization of the army, in 
which he dealt with the questions of pay, uni- 
forms, rations, rank, promotion, field exercise, 
regulation of barracks, the police of garrisons 
and camps, and the issue of arms, clothing, and 
fuel. These elaborate stiggestions were neces- 
sarily hasty, but they exhibit great familiarity 
with the various subjects, fertility of resource, 
ind broad and comprehensive views. They re- 
ceived the highest proof of their value in gain- 
ing the approval of Washington^ the best and 
most experienced soldier of the day, 

14 



210 ALEXANDER HAMILTON. 

When Congress assembled, Hamilton sent to 
the Senate a bill which became law and was en« 
titled, " An Act for the better organizing of the 
troops of the United States.'* This measure 
changed as little as possible the existing system, 
dealing chiefly with the proportion to be estab- 
lished between the number of officers and oi 
men. Hamilton's purpose was to make a " fun- 
damental arrangement," so that in the future 
the existing system could be increased or di- 
minished at will without altering the form of 
organization. He also drafted a bill for a " Med- 
ical Establishment," and devised plans for the 
classification and organization of the militia for 
trade with the Indians and for military sup- 
plies, and from time to time he issued circulars 
to the army to check intemperance, duelling, 
and desertion, and to promote discipline. Mc- 
Henry, in fact, turned to Hamilton for instruc- 
tions on every point connected with the War 
Department, while Stoddert and Wolcott sought 
his advice in an almost equal degree as to the 
policy to be pursued with regard to the Navy 
and the Treasury. In the spring of 1799 he 
made every necessary arrangement for the inva- 
sion of Louisiana and the Floridas. He also 
prepared a scheme for the establishment and 
mamtenance of frontier posts, and devoted 
(Duch time and attention to the fortification of 



THE ORGANIZATION OF THE ARMY. 211 

New York. Hamilton's bills for organization, 
for the Medical Establishment, and for the 
eventual augmentation of the army, all became 
laws, but the work of actual recruiting was con- 
stantly delayed, until at last after the departure 
of the second peace commission it became ob- 
vious that there would be no war, and all active 
measures gradually ceased. Hamilton's mili- 
tary services at this time went no farther than 
the elaboration of plans and the work of prepa- 
ration ; the only lasting result of his labors be- 
ing the establishment of the West Point Acad- 
emy a few years later in general conformity 
with his suggestions. Hamilton in all these 
matters exhibited, however, not only his usual 
energetic and indefatigable industry and his 
readiness in dealing with a wide range of topics, 
but he showed that he possessed in a high de- 
gree the military attributes of foresight, breadth 
of view, knowledge of details, and great capac- 
ity for organization. Whether if he had been 
called into actual service he would have dis- 
played in equal measure the still more impor- 
tant qualities which are essential to a successful 
general in an active campaign and on the field 
of battle, must remain mere conjecture. This 
much is certain, that he did th3 best that was 
possible in all that fell to him to do, and that 
Ilia strong hand was felt in aL departments of 



212 ALEXANDER HAMILTON. 

fche government in regard to everything relating 
to the war policy of the United States. 

But while Hamilton was devoting himself to 
these laborious duties, he was working out in 
his usual manner detailed and comprehensive 
plans for the general conduct of the war. He 
saw that there would be no battles to fight with 
France in the East, and he was convinced that 
the only way to reach her was through the sides 
of her ally, Spain. He therefore designed to 
wrest from the latter power the region of the 
extreme Southwest, and give to the United 
States final and complete control of the great 
valley of the Mississippi. These ideas were of 
long standing and were part of that conception 
of nationality and of national greatness which 
was the predominating influence in Hamilton's 
public career. The last resolution which he 
had introduced in the Congress of the confed- 
eration declared the " navigation of the Missis- 
Bippi to be a clear and essential right and to be 
supported as such." A few years later he had 
said in the cabinet that the free use of that 
viver was "essential to the unity of the em- 
pire." In 1798 he urged upon Pickering the 
necessity of getting possession of Louisiana and 
the Floridas, and in the following year he wrote; 
" I have been long in the habit of considering 
the acquisition of those countries as essential to 
the permanency of the Union." 



FLANS A CAMPAIGN FOR THE SOUTHWEST. 213 

It seemed now as if the moment had come 
jrhen these theories might be put into execution, 
and it is no wonder that they were uppermost 
in Hamilton's thoughts. Both from a political 
and military point of view ho was right. The 
national and imperial instincts of his nature did 
not mislead him. The Mississippi and the great 
regions of the Southwest were essential to 
union and empire. The future has justified 
him, and in no single point has it shown more 
strikingly the range of Hamilton's vision as a 
statesman and the force and penetration of his 
mind. By one of the strange but not uncom- 
mon contradictions which we meet with in hu- 
man history, it fell to the lot of Hamilton's 
keenest foe to carry out the most imperial part 
of the great Federalist's national policy. It was 
reserved to Jefferson to acquire by purchase, 
and in defiance of the constitution, the vast ter- 
ritory which Hamilton planned only a few 
years before to win by arms. The accomplish- 
ment of the work fell to other hands, but the 
conception was Hamilton's, and it was he who 
first formulated the brilliant scheme, and after 
years of waiting devised means which would 
have assured success. 

Besides the control of the Mississippi and thft 
conquest of the Southwest there had long been 
in Hamilton's mind still another idea which, 



214 ALEXANDER HAMILTON. 

while national in its origin, was intended rather 
to increase the power of the United States than 
fco strengthen their union. " Our situation," he 
wrote in "The Federalist," "invites, and our 
lituation prompts us to aim at an ascendant in 
American affairs." We were to be dominant 
in the western hemisphere. We were not only 
to be neutral as to the affairs of Europe, but we 
were to exact from Europe neutrality in all re- 
garding America and were to crush out Euro- 
pean influence. Here is the Monroe doctrine 
in its widest scope, and with such notions long 
cherished and while he was revolving these plans 
for the acquisition of Louisiana, it is no wonder 
that Hamilton's imagination was touched by the 
schemes of the Spanish adventurer Miranda. 
He be^an to believe that the time had come for 
conquests beyond the Mississippi which should 
result in the liberation of the Central and even 
of the South American States, and in the estab- 
lishment of republics in those regions. 

Miranda had been long engaged in these 
schemes and had already endeavored to enlist 
England as an ally. He now wished to have 
England and the United States unite and un- 
dertake the overthrow of the Spanish power in 
South America. This fell in with the Federal- 
ist longing to join all decent people in a crusade 
igainst the hated French republic. Such an 



THE SCHEMES OF MIRANDA. 216 

/alliance would insure the ruin of Spain, the tool 
of France, the closing of the South American 
ports to French privateers, and great acquisi- 
tion of territory to the United States. It was. 
in case of war with France, both a wise and 
sufficiently practicable policy, and it is no won- 
der that Hamilton thought it worth considera- 
tion by the government, and at all events judged 
that it was well to be informed as to the prog- 
ress of such a movement. He therefore sought 
to interest the government in Miranda, and no 
doubt gave undue importance to that soldier of 
fortune ; but his own campaign was that of a 
great general and a fai-seeing statesman. Mili- 
tary glory appealed strongly to a sweeping in- 
tellect and powerful nature like Hamilton's, 
and we may readily believe that he dreamed of 
extensive conquests and great deeds of arms. 
That he thought the opportunity likely to come 
at that moment is more than doubtful. It is 
certain that it never affected his public course, 
and that he never aimed at anything which, 
however it might redound to his own fame, 
went beyond an extension and consolidation of 
the power of the United States. The theory 
Vhat his mind teemed with visions of empire and 
t>f military power in the Napoleonic fashion, 
schemes fraught with danger and perhaps des- 
potism, is due to the heated and hostile mind o! 



216 ALEXANDER HAMILTON. 

Mr. Adams. Hamilton was not only extremely 
guarded in his correspondence with Miranda, to 
whom he said that " he could personally have no 
participation in his plan unless patronized by 
the government of the United States," but he 
was also in consultation with Rufus King, our 
cautious minister to England. Throughout he 
scrupulously avoided doing or saying anything 
which could by any possibility give ground for 
the suspicion that he was taking part in the 
schemes of an adventurer without the assent 
of his government. The plan appealed to his 
strongest instincts as a statesman and soldier, 
and fired his imagination. It was, too, not un- 
reasonable, and in the event of war Hamilton 
determined to be in a position to take every 
advantage of such brilliant possibilities. 

But while Hamilton gave himself up to the 
onerous duties immediately before him, his 
dreams and aspirations, if he had any, came to 
a speedy end. The popular indignation and 
the hearty support of the administration, the 
Dold attitude of the United States, and the fight- 
ing qualities of our little navy, already striking 
telling blows at the French privateers and men- 
of-war, all impressed France with the fact that 
she had aroused a nation out of reach of he? 
armies, and capable of becoming a very formi- 
dable adversary. The worthy Talleyrand ao 



THE SECOND MISSION TO FRANCE 217 

eordingly began to cast about for some means 
by which he could reestablish friendly relations, 
at the lowest possible cost to the pockets and 
the feelings of the French people and of him- 
self. By circuitous channels, but in direct terms, 
he conveyed to Mr. Adams the fact that the 
government would be glad to receive an Amer- 
ican envoy with all the respect and honor to 
which he was entitled. Acting on this informa- 
tion, and without a word to any one, not even to 
his cabinet, the President sent in the nomination 
of Mr. Vans Murray to be minister to France. 

There can be no doubt that honorable peace 
was then, as in Washington's time, the para- 
mount consideration. Whether it was wise to 
snap at the very first opportunity held out by 
France is more questionable. John Adams cer- 
tainly believed it to be so, but his haste, secrecy, 
and the abrupt change from his recent utter- 
ances, make it impossible not to suppose that 
one strong motive for this sudden action was 
to be found in his belief that peace would crip- 
ple the war party, including Hamilton, and all 
others who differed with him. But admitting 
that John Adams was not only right in principle 
out also in the selectioa of the moment for 
aaaking peace, yet his mode of doing right was 
utterly and hopelessly wrong. If his cabinet 
agreed with him, than concealment was useless 



218 ALEXANDER HAM I LI ON. 

if they were certain to oppose him, then con- 
cealment may have been shrewd and cunning , 
but it was neither very wise nor very brave. 
In any event, it rent asunder hopelessly the al- 
ready distracted Federalists. It fell upon the 
unsuspecting party with the suddenness of a 
bolt of lightning. They were stunned by the 
ehock, and their first thought was to defeat the 
President in the Senate, and to break down him 
and his policy together. These were the views 
of men who believed a war with France to be a 
good thing in itself, because it was the only 
sure salvation from the pestilent ideas of Paris. 
They would have had us ally ourselves with 
England, because it behooved all decent people 
throughout the world to stand together and 
stamp out the monstrous doctrines of the French 
revolution. 

No man hated those doctrines and principles 
more fervently than Hamilton, and no one sac- 
rificed more than he to opposition to the prop- 
aganda of unbridled democracy and consequent 
anarchy. But, except on one or two occasions, 
the statesman always prevailed with Hamilton. 
Except in the case of a common war against 
i^rance when the results would bring vast and 
immediate benefits to the United States, he had 
tio mind for an alliance with England, much af 
ae applauded her as the defender of society. He 



THE SECOND MISSION TO FRANCE. 219 

was, on the contrary, disposed to be cool to- 
ward her because, with a stupidity really exqui- 
site, she had begun, just as we were embroiled 
with France, once more to annoy and provoke 
us with outrageous orders in council. Hamil- 
ton's general policy, therefore, was the mainte- 
nance of a strong dignified attitude, backed by 
armed men and ships, and then a quiet waiting 
until France should come to her senses and send 
a minister to us. He never believed war to be 
a good thing in itself, as did some of his more 
extreme partisans, who were as headstrong and 
unruly in their way as the President was in his ; 
but he regarded peace now and always as the 
first object. In this he was not only wise but 
consistent with his past. At the same time the 
sudden change of Adams, his eager grasp at the 
earliest symptom of returning decency in the 
French government, disappointed and angered 
Hamilton as a hasty, needless step, and an un- 
called-for sacrifice of a dignity which might 
aave been scrupulously maintained and much 
enhanced without endangering a speedy and 
lasting peace His wrath was still further 
kindled by the foolish and offensive method of 
action adopted by the President. 

But even in bitterness and anger the states- 
man was still uppermost. Hamilton may not 
have been the idol of the masses, nor a skilful 



220 ALEXANDER HAMILTON. 

manager of men; but there was one set of 
men whom he knew thoroughly, and those were 
the leaders of his own party. He knew them 
to be capable of becoming very dangerous, and 
he saw them now on the point of rising upon 
the President and beating him and the party 
to the earth together. Checking his own feel- 
ings, but without attempting to conceal his 
indignation, he took the ground with the Fed- 
eralists at Philadelphia, that peace with honor 
was now, as always, our first object, and that 
this step toward it, however unwisely it had 
been taken, was nevertheless beyond recall. The 
true policy now was to make the best of what 
had been done, and treat for peace as it should 
be treated for. To send Murray alone was ab- 
surd ; it was the idea of a man blinded with 
haste and anger. Let a suitable commission 
be chosen and sent, if circumstances still con- 
tinued favorable. The party leaders fell in 
with Hamilton's views, and Adams himself be- 
coming aware of the error of committing this 
charge to Murray alone, a strong commission 
was nominated and confirmed. It is hardly 
too much to say that Hamilton's prompt de- 
cision, his wisdom and statesmanship, saved 
the party at this moment from an immediate 
wreck, which he might very readily and nat 
arally have precipitated. 



THE SECOND MISSION TO FRANCE. 221 

TLere was some delay in sending the coinmis- 
lioners, owing to the unsettled state of France, 
nnd then came another revolution, which led 
the Federalists to believe that there ought to 
be a further suspension of the embassy. Ham- 
ilton even went to Trenton to urge delay ; but 
Adams, irritated beyond endurance by the stub- 
bom and exasperating resistance of the war 
party, as represented by his secretaries, treated 
counsel and opposition alike with contempt, 
and ordered the envoys away. Thus ended 
the first great struggle over our relations with 
France. Taken as a whole, from the arrival 
of Genet to the departure of this last commis- 
sion which effected a treaty, the Federalist 
policy had been a masterpiece at once bold and 
sagacious, and one from which the country 
reaped great and lasting benefit. But behind 
the fair exterior of success was the triumphant 
party torn with bitter dissensions, which were 
sapping its life even in the moment of victory. 

In another direction the policy of the Fed- 
eralists, although giving rise to no quarrels, 
but meeting, on the contrary, with general ap- 
proval in the party, became the most efficient 
>ause of their subsequent ruin. The publica- 
tion of the X. Y. Z. letters, and the flight of 
members of the opposition from the House of 
Representatives, left absolute control with the 



222 ALEXANDER HAMILTON. 

Federalists. They had been accustomed to win- 
ning battle after battle, but they had always 
been in the minority, and the want of num* 
hers was a severe and wholesome discipline 
which cultivated in that party a prudence to 
which by nature they were not much given. 
An absolute majority and the irresistible rise 
of public opinion against France turned their 
heads. They did not lose their wits, but they 
became more masterful and overbearing than 
ever. They rapidly pushed through bills for 
an army, a navy, and fortifications, as well as 
a naturalization law which required fourteen 
years' residence, many of them urging the re- 
fusal of citizenship to foreigners altogether. So 
far no harm had been done ; but they next re- 
solved to strike at the vile libels which had 
been poured forth by the opposition press upon 
Washington, and upon every other honored 
name, and at the foreigners who wrote the libels 
or propagated French doctrines and set agita- 
tion on foot. With this object they enacted 
the famous alien and sedition laws. In their 
first draft these laws were intolerable. The 
Federalists in Congress were guided by the 
members of the extreme war party, and were 
now in a very rash mood, so that Hamilton waa 
much alarmed by these bills, and wrote ur- 
gently in favor of modifications. Of the alieir 



THE ALIEN AND SEDITION ACTS. 223 

act, and the mode of its execution, he said, " Let 
Ds not be cruel or violent." In the first draft 
of the sedition act he saw danger of civil war, 
and said, " Let us not establish a tyranny. En- 
ergy is a very different thing from violence.'* 
This was the language of a statesman. But 
when the laws were modified and passed, they 
and the principles which they involved received 
Hamilton's entire support. 

There has been a general effort on the part 
of biographers to clear their respective heroes 
from all responsibility for these ill-fated meas- 
ures. The truth is, that they had the full 
support of the congressmen and senators who 
passed them, of the President who signed them, 
and of the leaders ]n the States, who almost all 
believed in them ; and they also met with very 
general acceptance by the party in the North. 
Hamilton went as far in the direction of sus- 
taining the principle of these laws as any one. 
He had too acute a mind to believe with many 
of the staunch Federalist divines of New Eng- 
land, that Jefferson and Madison were Marats 
and Robespierres, and that their followers were 
Jacobins who, when they came to power, were 
ready for the overthrow of religion and society, 
and were prepared to set up a guillotine and 
pour out blood in the waste places of the fed- 
aral :ity. But he did believe, and so wrote to 



£24 ALEXANDER HAMILTON. 

Washington, after tlie appearance of the X. Y. 
Z. letters, that there was a party in the coun- 
try ready to " new model " the constitution on 
French principles, to form an offensive and de- 
fensive alliance with France, and make the 
United States a French province. He felt, in 
short, that there was a party in America ready 
for confiscation and social confusion. A year 
later, in 1799, he wrote to Dayton, the speaker 
of the national House of Representatives, a long 
letter, in which he set forth very clearly the 
policy which he felt ought to be pursued. He 
wished to give strength to lEhe government, and 
increase centralization by every means, by an 
extension of the national judiciary, a liberal 
system of internal improvements, an increased 
and abundant revenue, an enlargement of the 
army and navy, permanence in the laws for the 
volunteer army, extension of the powers of the 
general government, subdivision of the States 
as soon as practicable, and finally, a strong sedi- 
tion law, and the power to banish aliens. This 
was what was termed at that day a '* strong and 
spirited " policy ; it would now be called re- 
pressive, but by whatever name it is designated, 
it was the policy of Hamilton, and is charaC' 
fceristic of both his talents and temperament. 
Except as to the subdivision of States, it was 
'arried out pretty thoroughly in all its mam 
matures by the Federalists. 



DISSENSIONS AMONG THE FEDERALISTS. 225 

The alien and sedition laws, although resisted 
in Congress, did not much affect public opinion 
fct the elections which immediately ensued, and 
the Federalists came into the next Congress 
with a large majority. Numbers, however, 
tivailed them little. In the worst days of their 
minority period they were more effective as a 
party. The jealousies and quarrels already on 
foot came to a fierce culmination on the appoint- 
ment of the second mission to France. The 
moderate Federalists of the South, headed by 
Marshall, sustained the President, while the 
war party urged his destruction. It was a 
house divided against itself and at a time when 
violent measures had so lessened the great ad* 
vantages of the last election that the Federal- 
ists entered upon the Presidential campaign 
with but a narrow margin for success. Jeffer- 
son sounded the alarm in the famous Kentucky 
resolutions. The doctrine was bad enough, but 
it was probably merely intended to attract atten- 
tion to the rapid development of power on the 
part of the central government. The resolu- 
tions of both Kentucky and Virginia were re- 
ceived with little favor anywhere, and in many 
States with strong and formal reprobation. 
Hamilton, more deeply stirred by a movement n 
for disunion than he could be by anything else, ^ 
"egarded these resolutions as of great gravity 

16 



226 ALEXANDER HAMILTON. 

End urged that they be formally disapproved 
by Congress and their evil tendencies fully dis 
played. 

Jefferson, however, had achieved his purpose. 
The suspicions of the country vrere awakened 
to the meaning and possible results of such 
legislation as the alien and sedition acts, and 
to the centralizing policy of the Federalists, 
The approach of peace, moreover, relaxed the 
spirit which had rallied the masses to the side of 
the Federalists as the defenders of the national 
honor. Slowly, but surely, the dominant party 
was losing ground in public opinion. Pennsyl- 
vania slipped from them at the state ejection, 
and this made a victory in New York of the 
very last importance. Hamilton threw himself 
into the struggle with an energy and fire great 
even for him. But he was now opposed to one 
who was the first and by no means the least 
in a long list of men, some of great ability and 
distinction, who have risen to power and place 
largely by capacity for guiding the dark and 
complicated intrigues of New York politics. In 
these Aaron Burr was a master. The elec- 
tion turned largely on the result in the city, 
and in ward politics Hamilton was no match for 
bis antagonist. Hamilton could neither trade, 
►)argain, nor deal with petty factions. Suck 
arork was unworthy of his powerful intelleci 



HAMILTON'S PROPOSAL TO J AT. 227 

und the sacrifice did not even bring the poor 
reward of success. V/ith voice and pen Ham- 
ilton maintained the conflict. His eloquence 
was unrivalled, his arguments, written and 
spoken, were unanswerable, but Burr had the 
votes. New York was lost to the Federalists 
and ruin stared them in the face. 

In the bitterness and passion of defeat Ham- 
ilton proposed to Governor Jay to call together 
the old legislature and give the choice of presi- 
dential electors to districts, thus dividing the 
vote of New York, which w^ould otherwise be 
settled by the incoming legislature, who would 
choose none but Democrats. Jay, very frankly, 
declined to consider the scheme, as one wholly 
improper. The proposition was, in fact, nothing 
less than to commit, under the forms of law, a 
fraud, which would set aside the expressed will 
of a majority of the voters in the State. This 
is the one dark blot upon the public career of 
Hamilton. It is no palliation to say that he 
was urged to it by the Federalist members of 
Congress. The error of a great leader cannot 
be excused by saying that lesser men advised 
him to it. Many times before Hamilton had 
stepped in boldly and had effectually checked 
vhe rash and headstrong impulses of his more 
ixtreme friends at Philadelphia He now fell 
in with them in support of this high-handed 



228 ALEXANDER HAMILTON. 

measure. It was he who advised it with Jay, 
it was he who urged its prosecution, and on hia 
shoulders must rest the responsibility. Hamil- 
ton was too clear-sighted even then to attempt 
to disguise the character of the scheme. He 
Bays plainly to Jay, we must not be "over- 
scrupulous," and then adduces a great many 
lucid and ingenious reasons to show that this is 
a time when to do a great right one is justified 
in doing a little wrong. Arguments on that side 
of the question were not wanting ; they nevei 
are to the champions of order, the saviours of 
society, the "strong men," and the imperialists 
of this world. That Hamilton was carried away 
by a passion of disappointment when he wrote 
this letter, is no doubt true, but the root of the 
matter lay still deeper. The bitterness of de- 
feat and the readiness to use violent means to 
recover lost ground sprang from the belief fos- 
tered and developed in Hamilton's mind by the 
French revolution, that there was a party in 
this country of democracy, license, and anarchy, 
that its victory meant ruin to the state, and 
that salvation could only be assured by the con- 
tinuance in power of the party of order and 
Federalism. This frame of mind is not uncom 
mon in the history of party conflicts, but in the 
days of the " Great Monster," as Hamiltow 
(tailed the French republic, it was intensified tf 



ADAMS QVARRELS WITH HIS CABINET. 229 

a degree and carried to an extent hardly ever 
known before or since. That this dread of the 
success of the other side in a representative 
government should have led such a man as 
Hamilton to make a proposition like that con- 
tained in the letter to Jay, is a most melancholy 
example of the power and the danger of such 
sentiments which are wholly foreign to free con- 
stitutional systems. 

But even while the fortunes of the party 
were thus declining, they were hurried still 
faster on their downward course by the ever 
increasing bitterness and the greater openness 
of the quarrels among the leaders. The nomi- 
nation of the peace commission led to violent 
attacks upon the President by Pickering, who 
seems to have resolved to break him down, and 
these attacks made in private letters were now 
circulated with but little pretence of secrecy 
among the New England leaders. Immediately 
after the New York election, which crippled 
Hamilton by depriving him of the control of 
the vote of that State in the electoral college, 
Adams drove McHenry and Pickering from his 
cabinet. This deepened the feud, and Adams, 
irritated by the assaults of his opponents, gave 
loose to his own tongue, at all times a rathei 
unruly member. Among other abusive things, 
he called his opponents a British faction, and 



230 ALEXANDER HAMILTON. 

stigmatized Hamilton, in particular, aa acting 
in the interests of England. This attack soon 
reached Hamilton's ears, and in view of it3 
source he felt that it could not be passed over in 
silence. He accordingly wrote a brief note, stat- 
ing that he had heard the reported accusation 
of the President, and inquiring if the report 
were true. Receiving no reply he again wrote 
to Mr. Adams, repeating his question and deny- 
ing the truth of the alleged charge. Both notes 
were courteous and straightforward, but they 
were passed over in complete silence. It must 
not be forgotten that there was no open breach 
between the President and Hamilton. Their 
relations were as yet friendly in form at least. 
Moreover, only a short time before Mr. ^dams 
had written to Hamilton asking his assistance 
in securing for Colonel Smith, the President's 
son-in-law, a desirable position in the army. 
Hamilton had cheerfully and generously given 
his services, and his note was pleasant and 
friendly. Yet, with this incident fresh in his 
mind, Mr. Adams did not hesitate to refuse to 
notice a proper and reasonable question asked 
by the principal officer of the army who was 
also one of the most distinguished men in the 
country. To say that such treatment on the 
part of Mr. Adams was uncivil, is but little 
It was a gross blunder, and was unfortunately 



ADAMS'S TRjSATMENT OF HAMILTON. 231 

of a piece with all Mr. Adams's conduct to- 
wards Hamilton. When the latter came to 
Trenton to urge the suspension of the peace 
commission, Mr. Adams refers to his visit with 
a pitying sneer. Hamilton was the most pow- 
erful leader of the Federalists ; he was the most 
conspicuous and brilliant statesman in the coun- 
try, and yet the President, the head of the Fed- 
eralist party, first undertook to ignore him, 
then slighted his advice and derided him, and 
finally treated his manly inquiry with con- 
temptuous silence. Decency, prudence, and 
self-interest, to take no higher motives, dictated 
an opposite course. I am very far from hold- 
ing Mr. Adams solely responsible for the down- 
fall of the Federalists, but his treatment of 
Hamilton, tried merely by the test of states- 
manship and good politics, shows how com- 
pletely he failed as a leader of men, and how 
he became, despite all his courage, honesty, and 
abilities, a principal cause in the ruin of the 
party. 

Quarrels like these could not long be con- 
fined to the knowledge of the leaders. They 
were sure to break out and, coming to the 
surface before the public, to work all the vast 
mischief of which they were caoable. They 
.-cached their height just as the Presidential 
flection drew near. To throw Adams over 



232 ALEXANDER HAMILTON. 

meant an open split and certain defeat, and tkc 
leaders in Congress with much misgiving, and 
on the part of many with no great good-will, 
resolved to support him again as a candidate 
for the Presidency, in conjunction with Charles 
Pinckney for Vice-President. Hamilton made 
the best of what seemed to him a very bad busi- 
ness. Even after the loss of New York, there 
was still a chance for the Federalists if South 
Carolina would vote for both candidates. Ham- 
ilton urged, therefore, once more, an equal vote 
for both Pinckney and Adams, and again it 
may be said that his policy was the only one 
which could have secured success. It was gen- 
erally supposed, however, that this course would 
result in the election of Pinckney, a result 
which Hamilton openly preferred. It was bad 
enough to have this preference for Pinckney 
generally known ; but Hamilton was now so 
thoroughly enraged and so completely alienated 
from the President that he went still farther 
and wrote a pamphlet designed to show up Mr. 
Adams's failings, and to vindicate his own po- 
sition and that of the war Federalists. 

The project was so utterly wild that every 
effort was made to dissuade Hamilton from his 
purpose. The disapprobation, indeed, was so 
general that even he resolved at the last mo- 
ment to limit the circulation of this effusion 



PUBLICATION OF TEE ATTACK ON ADAMS. 233 

to a few friends. But it was too late. Burr, 
through his agents, stole a copy, and the pam- 
phlet appeared. This famous production is a 
defence of the war Federalists and a personal 
attack on Mr. Adams. A good deal of the cen- 
sure was just enough, but the pamphlet, as a 
whole, was a piece of passionate folly. Hamil- 
ton denounced as unsafe, violent, vain, and ego- 
tistic, a Federalist President, whose general pub- 
lic policy all Federalists supported; and then 
wound up his bitter diatribe with the lame and 
impotent conclusion of advising every one to 
vote for the man so much to be distrusted. The 
whole thing was simple self -stultification, and 
the pamphlet met with no favor, except among 
the Democrats. Even Hamilton's closest friends 
were frightened and displeased. If the Feder- 
alists had openly divided, and the two wings 
had engaged in controversy, a polemic of this 
sort might have seemed natural. But for one 
great leader to publish such an attack upon 
another, when the party was formally in har- 
mony and upon the eve of a close and doubt- 
ful contest for the Presidency, was simple mad- 
ness. It was the work of a man crazed with 
passion, and bent on revenge. 

This unhappy incident cannot be dismissed 
without a word upon Hamilton's relations with 
the cabinet. It has been charged that in this 



234 ALEXANDER HAMILTON. 

respect he acted in bad faith. That the cabi 
net officers went too far in furnishing Hamilton, 
and others also, with all sorts of information 
which came to them in a confidential capacity, 
will not, I think, be questioned. It is not ap- 
parent, however, that Hamilton made any im- 
proper use of this information, for although he 
was anxious enough for material, there was 
none to be had which was of peculiar value or 
novelty. But there is no ground for accusing 
Hamilton of bad faith in this particular. He 
made a mistake in trying, through his influence 
with the cabinet, to force the President's hand, 
but he had a perfect right, as a party leader, 
to correspond with the secretaries and to give 
them his opinions and advice on political ques- 
tions. He had done the same thing in Wash- 
ington's time, and no one has ever hinted that 
there was any impropriety in it. The fact that 
he was not personally on good terms with Ad- 
ams does not affect the matter. Hamilton was 
fully entitled to write private letters to mem- 
bers of the cabinet, and they had a right to 
receive them. The fact that the secretaries, 
after they found themselves in opposition to 
the President, ought to have retired, is a wholly 
distinct matter, and must be discussed on dif- 
ferent grounds. If they chose to be guided 
by Hamilton, a private individual and unoflS 



DEFEAT OF TEE FEDERALISTS. 285 

Dial leader, that was their affair, not his. The 
paniphlet against Adams was passionate, fool- 
ish, and contradictory in itself, and it placed 
Hamilton in a weak and false position, but it 
was an open attack, and was not liable to the 
charge of bad faith. 

If anything was needed to make the over- 
throw of the Federalists certain, this unfortu- 
nate pamphlet would have done it. But the 
party's doom was already sealed. South Caro- 
lina would vote only for a southern man, and 
Pinckney, with the chivalrous sense of duty 
which he always displayed, refused to be sepa- 
rated from Adams. The result was the defeat 
of the candidates of the Federalists and the 
close of their party career as rulers of national 
politics. The struggle of the election did not, 
however, come to an end in the electoral col- 
leges. The equal vote received by Burr and 
Jefferson threw the final decision into the House 
of Representatives, and the former began at 
once to sound his way toward an arrangement 
which should bring him in as President over 
Jefferson. The Federalists in Congress, mad- 
dened and reckless by defeat, turned with avid- 
ity to the chance of snatching the office from 
their arch-enemy Jefferson. The crisis was 
eery grave, and indeed threatened civil war 
Once more the Federalists at Washing'^on were 



236 ALEXANDER HAMILTON. 

running to perilous extremes, and once more 
Hamilton checked them. The wild passion, 
which had led him into the attack on Adams, 
had spent itself, and he was, again, the cool, 
wise, far-seeing statesman with his prejudices 
and impulses under the control of reason. He 
knew that Jefferson was the fairly chosen Presi- 
dent, and that such was the intention of the 
people. He saw the danger which setting Jef- 
ferson aside by an intrigue would bring. Much 
as he disliked the man, he knew that his former 
colleague was timid, cautious, and trained in 
politics of the better sort. He also knew Burr, 
and rightly believed the hero of New York city 
politics to be shallow, dangerous, and utterly 
unscrupulous. Putting aside all personal feel- 
ing, he threw himself into the conflict and ex- 
erted his powerful influence to check the mad 
projects of the Federalists. His intervention 
probably had a decisive effect. It was cer- 
tainly courageous, high-minded, and such as be- 
came the distinguished leader of a great party. 
After the storm of the election and the bitter- 
ness of party faction it was a fit conclusion to 
Hamilton's career as a public man, which prac- 
tically ended with the downfall of his party. 



CHAPTER X. 

PROFESSIONAL LIFE. — DUEL AND DEATfl^ 

The defeat of the Federalists left Hamil- 
ton wholly free to devote himself to the prao* 
tice of the law. Fortunately for him, his work 
was something very different from the merely 
nominal occupation which retired statesmen 
and disappointed politicians sometimes dignify 
by the name of " their profession." The pro- 
scriptive laws against Tories, as I have said, had 
given to Hamilton, Burr, and a few others, 
complete possession of the New York practice 
after the Revolution, and Hamilton had not neg- 
lected the opportunity thus offered. While 
deeply engaged in the work of the constitution 
he labored at his profession, in which he had 
been the leader almost from his first appear- 
ance. He laid aside a lucrative practice when 
he took the treasury, and having exhausted hia 
savings while in office returned to the bar a 
poor man, with his mind fixed on making money 
and fame as a lawyer. With his brilliant repu 
lation as a public man and party leader he at 
mce received more business than he had left ia 



238 ALEXANDER HAMILTON. 

1789. In a few months he was again at the 
head of the bar and master of a large and grow- 
mg practice. After the election of Jefferson he 
became even more absorbed in the law than be- 
fore, and drifted steadily out of the current oi 
public affairs. With this he was now well con- 
tent. He said with truth that he had no desire 
to reenter public life, unless called forth by the 
contingency of a foreign or civil war. Unfortu- 
nately for himself, he considered the latter mis- 
fortune only too likely to happen. 

Much might be written of Hamilton as a 
lawyer. His professional success has been 
dimmed by the brilliancy of his career as a 
statesman ; but there can be no doubt that he 
deserves a very high place among those Ameri- 
cans who have been most distinguished at the 
bar. As a constitutional lawyer it is not neces- 
sary to go beyond the argument on the national 
bank to show a capacity in this direction of the 
very first order. Hamilton's powers of state- 
ment and of clear, cogent reasoning were ad- 
mirably adapted for arguments to the court on 
points of law and equity, and in this field he 
shone from the outset. Fortunately, we have 
proof of his power before the court and also of 
his effectiveness with a jury, the most evanes- 
cent form of legal ability, in two very famoue 
cases which were of sufficient importance tc 
escape oblivion. 



THE CROSWELL CASE. 239 

Oue was a prosecution for libel directed 
Rgainst Henry Croswell, a Federalist editor of a 
small local journal. The obnoxious paragraph 
was to the effect that Jefferson had paid Callen- 
der to slander Washington and Adams. This 
statement was not particularly outrageous if 
compared to those which filled the newspapers 
on both sides at that time, and it had moreover 
already appeared in substance in the " New York 
Evening Post." But the Democratic leaders, 
now that they had come to power, were resolved 
to try their hand at muzzling the press and put- 
ting a stop to the stinging attacks of their 
opponents. They, therefore, selected a weak 
assailant and prepared to make an example 
of him for the benefit of the Federalist editors. 
With a Democratic sheriff. Democratic grand- 
jury, and Democratic judge, they obtained an 
indictment, after exhibiting a rough disregard 
of the rights of the defendant. When the case 
came to trial, Hamilton, who had been urged to 
assume the defence, was unable to appear, and 
the prosecution was pushed unrelentingly. Cros- 
well's counsel asked for time, in order to get 
witnesses from Virginia to testify to the truth 
of the libel ; but Judge Lewis held that the 
jury were judges only o£ the fact, and not of 
the truth or intent of the publication. After 
a night's deliberation the jury found Croswel' 



240 ALEXANDER HAMILTON. 

guilty, and his counsel at once moved for a 
new trial on the ground of misdirection by th*} 
judge. The ruling of Judge Lewis was in di- 
rect contradiction of the famous New York pre^ 
cedent established in the Zenger trial, .but it 
found support in the law of England. The 
issue raised the great question of general ver- 
dicts, on which Erskine won his renown and 
stemmed the tide of reactionary violence in Lon- 
don. It appealed to Hamilton both as a lawyer 
and statesman, and as the consistent friend of a 
free press in accordance with what he believed 
to be the true principles of the common law. 
He therefore laid everything aside in order to 
make the principal argument in support of the 
motion before the Supreme Court at Albany. 
The case excited intense interest. Every one 
flocked to the court room, and the legislature 
could not obtain a quorum. Hamilton closed 
the case the first day, and the court adjourned 
before he had finished. He concluded the next 
morning, and occupied in all six hours. His 
argument was a splendid piece of reasoning 
and eloquence, marked by all the qualities of 
thought and expression for which he was distin- 
guished. Chancellor Kent, whose notes have 
preserved to us a description of this argu- 
ment,^ said that ''it was the greatest forensic 
effort Hamilton ever made. He had bestowed 

1 See Appendix, Note C. 



THE CROHWELL CASE. 241 

an isual attention on the case, and he came pre- 
pared to discuss the points of law with a per- 
fect mastery of the subject. There was an un* 
asual solemnity and earnestness on his part in 
the discussion. He was, at times, highly im- 
passioned and pathetic. His whole soul was 
unlisted in the cause. The aspect of the times 
was portentous, and he was persuaded that if he 
could overthrow the high-toned doctrine of the 
judge it would be a great gain to the liberties 
of this country. . . . The anxiety and tender- 
nesjB of his feelings, and the gravity of his 
theme, rendered his reflections exceedingly im- 
pressive. He never before in my hearing made 
any effort in which he commanded higher rev- 
erence for his principles, nor equal admiration 
for the power and pathos of his eloquence." 
There is no need to attempt any addition to this 
statement. A man who could win praise, so 
high and so unstinted, from such a man aa 
Chancellor Kent, requires no further testimony 
to his rank and ability as a great lawyer. 

The other famous case which has come down 
to us, and to which I have already alluded, was 
a murder trial, which appealed strongly to the 
interest and sympathies of the community, and 
which exhibits Hamilton's powers in a new 
light, and one very different from that of the 
prosecution of Croswell The Irtody of a girl 

16 



242 ALEXANDER HAMILTON. 

was found in a well, and her lover, a young 
mechanic of good character, was suspected, in- 
dicted, and put on trial for the murder. Ham- 
ilton was retained for the defence, the difficulty 
of which was greatly enhanced by the strong 
popular feeling against his client. The evi- 
dence was nearly all circumstantial, and Hamil- 
ton dealt with it as it was put in very effectively, 
and greatly impaired its effect. The govern- 
ment then called their principal witness, one 
Croucher, a fellow of evil repute and on whose 
direct testimony the verdict depended. Hamil- 
ton had become convinced that Croucher was 
the real culprit, and he knew that his evidence 
was the crucial point in the case. When the 
examination in chief was concluded the night 
was well advanced. Hamilton sent for two can- 
dles and by placing one on each side of the wit- 
ness box threw Croucher's face into strong re- 
lief, and then confronted him with a fixed and 
piercing gaze. Objection was made to this 
procedure, but the court overruled the objeo' 
tion, and Hamilton then said with deep solem- 
nity, " I have special reasons, deep reasons, rea- 
sons that I dare not express, reasons that, when 
the real culprit is detected and placed before 
the court, will then be understood." He paused, 
and the attention of every one was riveted ir 
breathless silence upon the witness. HamiltoB 



THE EXAMINATION OF CROUCHER. 243 

continued : " The jury will mark every muscle 
of liis face, every motion of his eye. I conjure 
you to look through that man's countenance to 
his conscience." A severe cross-examination 
followed. The wretched witness stumbled, con* 
tradicted himself, and utterly broke down. The 
jury acquitted the prisoner without leaving their 
seats. The subsequent history of Croucher,i 
who left the court room covered with suspicion 
and contumely, justified Hamilton's device, 
which under ordinary circumstances would not 
be permissible. The incident shows in Ham- 
ilton that quickness of apprehension, force of 
personality, and fertility of resource as well as 
the dramatic sense, which are all such impor- 
tant and necessary qualities to great advocates 
before a jury. These two cases, in different 
ways, are good illustrations of Hamilton's power 
and success at the bar. 

The popular belief in the certainty of Ham- 
ilton's winning cases was extraordinary, and 
while it brought him briefs without number it 
eveals at the same time the great secret of his 
Buccess as an advocate. Men came to think 
that, if he exerted himself, he could compel 
any one, whether judge or juryman, co agree 

1 Croucher was coiivicte(? "i rape on a child, was pardoned, 
)vent to Virginia, there committed afraad, and fled to England, 
where lie is said to have been executed for a heinous crime. 



£.i4 ALEXANDER HAMILTON. 

with him. This idea sprang from a vague per- 
ception of what was, in reality, the very es- 
sence of Hamilton's mind and character. Force 
of intellect and force of will were the sources 
of his success. Eloquence he had in abundance, 
but it was that of the parliamentary orator and 
debater rather than of the advocate to a jury. 
He was, above all things, fitted for the Senate, 
and it was the eloquence of the Senate that he 
brought into the courts. He rarely attempted 
to deal with that complicated machine, a jury, 
by any of the various and difficult methods 
characteristic of the greatest advocates, but he 
addressed them as he did a convention, or as he 
did the public when he spoke through his es- 
says, always relying, mainly, on his power to 
carry conviction to their reason. Yet he never 
forgot, when he was speaking, that while he 
convinced he must also persuade, that reason 
must not only be satisfied, but prejudices sub- 
dued. He supported arguments by resorting 
to the emotions. He was full of pathos, fervor, 
and indignation, and when he was stirred they 
gave warmth and light to all he said. He 
never indulged in rhetorical flourishes, and his 
«tyle was simple and severe. He seldom sought 
to move the passions of men through their im- 
agination. Directness was his most distinguish- 
ing characteristic, and whether he appealed to 



COMINVES LEADER OF THE FEDERALISTS. 245 

the head or the heart, he went straight to the 
mark. The secret lay in the force with which 
he did it. It was the passionate energy, the 
strong nature, the commanding, irresistible will 
which carried his hearers by storm when rea- 
Boning had made a practicable breach, and these 
Hrere the qualities which made men believe that 
Hamilton could extort assent and compel sub- 
mission from the most stubborn and unwilling 
opponent. 

But while Hamilton was thus employed in 
winning fortune and in adding the fame of the 
great lawyer to that of the distinguished states- 
man, while he was ever withdrawing more and 
more from politics, planning a great work on 
civil government, enjoying his famil}^ and or- 
dering the affairs of his farm, at that moment 
his fate was close upon him. He continued, of 
course, to take an interest and a more or less 
active part in public concerns. The Federalists 
broke up rapidly after their defeat, but he was 
Btill the trusted chief of all who held together. 
Whenever the responsibility of leadership forced 
him to act he never shrank from the duty, and 
it was one of these occasions that brought him 
to his death. 

Aaron Burr defeated Hamilton in the strug- 
,jle for the control of New York, which cost the 
^''ederalists the Presidency, but he could not 



246 ALEXANDER HAMILTON. 

drive his great opponent from his path. Ham- 
ilton had stood between him and a foreign 
mission, and came again athwart his course, 
by frustrating his intrigue for the Presidency. 
Thus baflBed among the Federalists, Burr 
turned to his own party only to see his power 
waning, and to encounter the dislike and sus- 
picion of JefEerson. The crafty Virginian was 
bent on the destruction of his would-be rival, 
and Burr soon found himself hopelessly en- 
tangled in the subtilely woven meshes of pres- 
idential intrigues, and falling helplessly toward 
certain ruin. To extricate himself from the 
disastrous field of national politics, he sought 
the governorship of New York, behind which 
was the possibility of a northern confederacy 
and presidency, a phantom evoked by the mur- 
murs of secession now heard among New Eng- 
land leaders. Again Hamilton arose and stood 
in the way of these intrigues, denouncing the 
schemes of secession, and so dividing the Fed- 
eralists of New York as to give the election to 
Lewis, Burr's Democratic rival. Then it was 
A that Burr determined upon revengeW Ven- 
geance must have been his principal if not his 
only motive, inasmuch as killing Hamilton was 
not likely to improve his own condition, even 
though it removed his arch enemy. In 1800 
khere were many stronger incentives to cr.lJ 



BURR'S CHALLENGE. 241 

Hamilton out than in 1804, but Burr liad then 
held his peace and bided his time. Now, how- 
ever, his political fortunes were desperate, and 
the obloquy sure to come upon him if Hamil- 
ton fell by his hand could hardly make matters 
worse. With cool deliberation he set about 
forcing a quarrel.V^^e showed his purpose 
plainly enough, by selecting a remark attrib- 
uted to Hamilton at the time of the caucuses 
held to nominate candidates for the governor- 
ship, which was really applicable to his general 
public character, was not peculiarly severe, and 
was perfectly inoffensive, compared with many 
of the denunciations launched at him by Ham- 
ilton only a few years before. Hamilton had 
no desire to fight, but it was impossible to avoid 
it, if he admitted the force of the code of honor, 
when Burr was determined to fix a quarrel upon 
him. There was an exchange of letters, and 
finally a meeting was arranged. 

Aaron Burr, who was now on the eve of 
committing the deed which has done more than 
anything else in his worthless life to keep his 
memory alive, belonged to a not uncommon 
variety of the human species. He was one of 
the conspirator class of which Napoleon IH. 
furnished the most conspicuous example in 
modern times. It has been the fashion to por 
tray Burr as a being of great but misguided in- 



248 ALEXANDER HAMILTON 

fcellect, a human Mephistoplieles, — grand, evil, 
mysterious. In reality lie was a shallow man, 
with a superficial brilliancy, and the conspira* 
tor's talent for intrigue of all sorts. He was a 
successful rake, — bad, unscrupulous, tricky, — 
possessing what women and young men call 
" fascination," and utterly devoid of any moral 
sense. )^e would not stab or poison Hamilton, 
for he was not a common villain, and had a due 
respect for criminal and social law. But he 
was perfectly ready to call Hamilton out and 
kill him if he could under the rules of a recog- 
nized code>|^ This duel has been often spoken 
of as a murder. In the forum of conscience, 
before the tribunal of moral laws. Burr was no 
doubt a murderer, but by the code which he 
and Hamilton alike recognized, and by the sys- 
tem under which they were brought up, Burr 
acted in strict accordance with his rights. Ham- 
ilton certainly had no ground to complain. He 
was a fighting man, and he had always admit- 
ted the force of the duellist's code of honor. 
Over and over again he had described Burr in 
language which, as he was well aware, implied 
in that day a readiness to answer for it in 
the field. The fact that on this occasion the 
words might be confined strictly to Burr's pub- 
lic character availed nothing. Hamilton had 
repeatedly used " fighting words " in speaking 



THE DUEL WITH LDRR. 249 

of Burr, and the latter had the right to demand a 
reckoning for any particular sentence he might 
select. There seems to be little doubt that 
Burr had come to Hamilton not long before in 
great pecuniary distress, and had been relieved 
with that large-hearted generosity in which 
Hamilton never failed. This incident casts a 
still deeper shade of infamy upon Burr's black- 
ened character, but it does not affect his stand- 
ing under the code. The code of honor, so- 
called, was bad and false, barbarous even, but 
those who lived by It were responsible to it and 
for it. When Hamilton attacked Burr as he 
did, he ran the risk of a challenge which he 
could accept or decline as he chose. Such a 
challenge did not, according to the code of 
honor, make Burr a murderer, nor did he be- 
come one by practising at a mark before fight- 
ing. Every Frenchman, if he has time, goes 
to the Salle d'Armes before fighting, and a man 
has as much right to prepare for a duel as for 
a boat-race or a boxing match. The pity of it 
all is, that Hamilton felt obliged to yield assent 
to the requirements of the code. 

Each man prepared for the meeting in his 
own fashion : Burr by pistol practice in his gar- 
den, Hamilton by settling the business of his 
3lients. As the fatal day drew near, HamiltoB 
displayed a calm cheerfulness, such as became 



250 ALEXANDER HAMILTON. 

H gallant man of strong character, and wrote 
farewell letters to his wife full of the most in- 
tense feeling and touching pathos. Burr took 
the necessary precautions for the destruction oi 
compromising letters from women whom he had 
seduced. They met at last, on a beautiful July 
morning, by the banks of the Hudson. Hamil- 
ton fell at the first fire, mortally wounded, dis- 
charging his own pistol into the air. He was 
taken to his home, lingered a few hours in ter- 
rible pain, and died, surraunded by his ago- 
nized family. Burr went forth unharmed, to 
engage in abortive treason, and to become a 
wanderer and an outcast on the face of the 
earth. 

Hamilton's suffering and death caused an 
outburst of bitter and indignant grief among 
men of all parties throughout the nation, which 
has been equalled only in our own time by the 
popular emotion at the murder of Lincoln and 
Garfield. .The people kr.ew that a great man 
had fallen*%^ The senseless slaughter of a fa- 
mous statesman, the useless, needless sacrifice 
of a man of brilliant abilities in the prime of 
life, was felt to be almost as much a disgrace as 
a misfortune, and Hamilton's death did more 
to abate duelling and make it odious than any 
event in our history. ^tK."^ 

The question, however, which presses on us 



WHY HAMILTON ACCEPTED THE CtiALLENGS 251 

as we consider the circumstances of Hamilton's 
death is, why did he fight ? why did sucn a man 
as he bow before the code to which he fell a vic- 
tim ? It was something far deeper than mere 
loyalty to a system which he, like other men of 
his stamp, had accepted as they found it. Ham- 
ilton could have set his foot upon the code. The 
personal courage of the man who stormed the 
Yorktown redoubt was beyond question or cavil. 
He could have said, " I renounce the code; it is 
senseless and barbarous. I have attacked you 
as a public man, and I choose to consider it a 
purely public matter. I decline to fight." He 
could have said this, and he would have said it 
had he not felt that the need of conforming to 
certain prejudices made the sacrifice imperative. 
Before he went to the fatal meeting he put 
upon paper a statement which gave with his 
own imrivalled force and clearness the objec- 
tions to duelling, and the seemingly all-power- 
ful motives which urged him to refuse to risk 
his life and the welfare of his children. At 
the end of this remarkable paper he gives his 
reason for meeting Burr in these words : " The 
ability to be in future useful, whether in resist- 
ing mischief or effecting good, in those crises of 
our public affairs which seem likely to happen, 
would probably be inseparable from a conform- 
ty with public prejudice in this particular." 



262 ALEXANDER BAM I LT ON. 

Hamilton was a man, not only of courage 
enough to fight a duel, but he possessed that 
far higher courage which would have enabled 
him to refuse the challenge and face a public 
prejudice, the strength of which in his own 
case he sadly overestimated. What, then, were 
the possible crises which he foresaw, and which 
led to his fatal decision ? 

The opinions which caused these apprehen- 
sions are of the utmost importance to a correct 
understanding of his life and work. They fur- 
nish the key to the principles which guided him 
through a large part of his career as a public 
man, and they produced certain settled beliefs 
which finally drove him to accept Burr's chal- 
lenge and thus hurried him to his death. I pro- 
pose, therefore, to trace the growth and devel- 
opment of these opinions by means of extracts 
from his letters. In these passages we shall see 
the effect upon Hamilton of the French revolu- 
tion and the dangers which he came to believe 
threatened the country. We shall then under- 
stand the nature of the crisis which haunted his 
imagination, and which caused him to sacrifice 
his life. In these same passages we shall also 
learn, incidentally, from his own lips how in 
tense was his love of nationality and how deep 
hiB hatred of secession ; and we shall see, too, 
in the most striking way, how purely national 



OPINIONS AS TO FRENCH REVOLUTION 253 

were the principles which inspired his foreign 
policy and how utterly baseless were the accu- 
sations of undue sympathy with Great Britain. 
The first extract is from a letter to Lafayette 
written in October, 1789, when everything 
looked so fair and smiling at the dawn of tbe 
French revolution. We see here the wonder- 
ful penetration and statesmanlike prescience of 
Hamilton as well as his knowledge and keen 
perception of forces, social and political, as he 
points out the dangers which he dreaded and 
which hardly any one then foresaw, but which 
all came to pass. In his fears we detect, too, 
the first germs of his subsequent opinions. He 
Bays to his old comrade-in-arms : — 

" I have seen with a mixture of pleasure and ap- 
prehension the progress of the events which have 
lately taken place in your country. As a friend to 
mankind and to liberty I rejoice in the efforts you are 
making to establish it, while I fear much for the final 
success of the attempts, for the fate of those I esteem 
who are engaged in it, and for the danger, in case of 
success, of innovations greater than will consist with 
the real felicity of your nation. If your affairs still 
go well, when this reaches you, you will ask why this 
foreboding of ill, when all the appearances have been 
10 much in your favor. I will tell you : I dread dis- 
agreements among those who are now united (which 
will be likely to be improved by the adverse party), 
about the nature of your constitution, I dread the 



254 ALEXANDER HAMILTON. 

rehement character of your people, whom I fear you 
may find it more easy to bring on, than to keep 
within proper bounds after you have put them in 
motion. I dread the interested refractoriness of your 
nobles who cannot all be gratified, and who may be 
unwilling to submit to the requisite sacrifices. And 
I dread the reveries of your philosophic politicians, 
who appear in the movement to have great influence, 
and who, being mere speculatists, may aim at more 
refinement than suits either with human nature or 
the composition of your nation." 

The next extract is from a letter written 
rather more than three years later, when these 
early anticipations had become terrible realities, 
and when the storms of the revolution had be- 
gun to disturb our own politics. Speculation 
as to results in France was at an end. All the 
possibilities that Hamilton had dreaded then 
were accomplished facts, and he was now anx- 
ious to know how much the same perils were 
to be feared in this country. He wrote to his 
friend Colonel Carrington, in April, 1793, to 
learn the state of public opinion in Virginia ; 
and from Carrington's reply we discover what 
his inquiries were, and thus catch the drift of 
his thought at that time. He wished to know 
what the feeling was in Virginia as to the revo- 
lutionary cause in France ; as to the execution 
ftf the king, the adoption of a neutrality policy 



DANGEROUS ELEMENTS IN UNITED STATES. 255 

by the United States, the maintenance or aban- 
donment of the French treaties, and as to the 
reception of Genet. He soon felt assured, ap- 
parently, that the same dangerous forces existed 
in this country as in France, and only doubted 
as to their extent and power among the people. 
In a letter of the same year (1793), after de- 
scribing with marked disgust Genet's reception 
on arriving in Philadelphia, he speaks of the 
promoters of the affair as the opponents of the 
government and disturbers of order, and then 
says : — 

" We too have our disorganizers. But I trust 
there is enough of virtue and good sense in the peo- 
ple of America to baffle every attempt against their 
prosperity, though masked under the specious garb of 
an extraordinary zeal for liberty. They practically, 
I doubt not, adopt this sacred maxim, that without 
government there is no true liberty." \y^ 

Having already expressed his belief in the 
probability of " combinations " to control our 
politics in foreign interests, he then goes on 
after the passage just quoted to deprecate vio- 
lent demonstrations of attachment to France 
^nd to repudiate all comparisons between her 
revolution and ours. '* I own I do not like the 
comparison," he says, and then follow his rea- 
sons, which are worth givmg in full because 
they state in a mDderate and yet forcible ma]> 



256 ALEXANDER HAMILTON. 

ner the grounds for his opinions as to the domi- 
iiant movement of the age, and express very 
admirably the causes and the reasoning on which 
his principles and those of the Federalists gen- 
erally were founded. It is an excellent exposi- 
tion of the feelings which actuated the opposi- 
tion to the French revolution and its theories : 

" When I contemplate the horrid and systematic 
massacres of the 2d and 3d of September ; when I ob- 
serve that a Marat and a Robespierre, the notorious 
promoters of these bloody scenes, sit triumphantly in 
the convention and take a conspicuous part in its 
measures, that an attempt to bring the assassins to jus- 
tice has been obliged to be abandoned ; when I see 
an unfortunate prince, whose reign was a continued 
demonstration of the goodness and benevolence of his 
heart, of his attachment to the people of whom he was 
the monarch, who though educated in the lap of des- 
potism, had given repeato-d proofs that he was not the 
enemy of liberty, brought precipitately and ignomin- 
iously to the block without any substantial proof of 
guilt as yet disclosed, — without even an authentic 
exhibition of motives, in decent regard to the opin- 
ions of mankind ; when I find the doctrines of athe- 
ism openly advanced in the convention and heard 
with loud applause ; when I see the sword of fanati 
cism extended to force a political creed upon citizens 
who were invited to submit to the arms of France aa 
the harbingers of liberty ; when I behold the hand o/ 
rapacity outstretched to prostrate and ravish the mon 



DANGER OF OUTBREAKS IN NEW YORK. 257 

aments of religious worship erected by those citizens 
and their ancestors ; when I perceive passion, tumult, 
»nd violence usurping those seats, where reason and 
cool deliberation ought to prevail, 1 acknowledge that 
I am glad to believe there is no real resemblance be- 
tween what was the cause of America and what is 
the cause of France ; that the difference is no less 
great than that between liberty and licentiousness. I 
regret whatever has a tendency to compound them, 
and I feel anxious, as an American, that the ebulli- 
tions of inconsiderate men among us may not tend to 
involve our reputation in the issue." 

Two years later he felt that there was dan- 
ger of actual outbreaks at a time when our rela- 
tions with France had become very strained and 
threatening. The dangerous elements, he seems 
to have thought, were really on the verge of 
open violence in New York. He writes to Wol- 
cott in July, 1795 : — 

"We have some cause to suspect, though not 
enough to believe, that our Jacobins meditate serious 
mischief to certain individuals. It happens that the 
militia of this city, from the complexion of its officers, 
cannot in general be depended on, and it will be diffi- 
cult for some time to organize a competent armed 
substitute. In this situation our eyes turn as a re- 
source in a sudden emergency, upon the military now 
in the forts, but these, we are told, are under march- 
ing orders. Pray converse confidcDtially with the 
17 



258 ALEXANDER HAMILTON. 

Secretary at War and engage him to suspend the 
march. Matters in eight or ten days will explain 
themselves." 

The next extract gives a glimpse of Hamil- 
ton's theory of foreign policy and of the purely 
national spirit which inspired it. The last 
clause shows how deeply he felt the evil of the 
colonial mode of thought which was then so 
strong that men did not even realize that they 
were still beneath its influence. Hamilton al- 
ready anticipated the essential need of that 
intellectual freedom and individuality toward 
Europe which it took years of conflict to bring 
to pass. The letter is dated December 16, 1796, 
and is addressed to Ruf us King : — 

" The favorable change in the conduct of Great 
Britain towards us, strengthens the hands of the 
friends of order and peace. It is much to be desired 
that a treatment in all respects miexceptionable froir 
that quarter sho ild obviate all pretext to inflame the 
public mind. 

" We are laboring hard to establish in this coun- 
try principles more and more national, and free from 
all foreign ingredients, so that we may be neither 
' Greeks nor Trojans,' but truly Americans." 

A few months later (April 10, 1797) he showa 
strongly in a letter to William Smith how 
averse he was to violence, either in favor of or 
against any foreign people whatsoever, whether 



NATIONAL SPIRIT IN FOREIGN POLICY. 259 

khey were the English whom he respected, or 
tihe French whom he detested, because he knew 
that such violence was inconsistent not only 
mth dignity but with a true national pride : — 

" It is unpleasant to me to know that I have for 
Bome time differed materially from many of my 
friends on public subjects, and I particularly regret, 
that at the present critical juncture there is in my 
apprehension much danger that sensibility will be an 
overmatch for policy. We seem now to feel and rea- 
son as the Jacobins did when Great Britain insulted 
and injured us, though certainly we have at least as 
much need of a temperate conduct now as we had 
then. I only say God grant that the public interest 
may not be sacrificed at the shrine of irritation and 
mistaken pride." 

The same feeling finds expression in the fol- 
lowing passage from a letter to Oliver Wolcott, 
dated June 6, 1797 : — 

*' I like very well the course of executive conduct 
in regard to the controversy with France, and I like 
the answer of the Senate in regard to the President's 
speech. 

" But I confess, I have not been well satisfied with 
the answer reported in the House. It contains too 
many hard expressions ; and hard words are very 
rarely used in public proceedings. Mr. Jay and other 
fiends here have been struck in the same manner 
with myself. We shall not regret to see the answer 



260 ALEXANDER HAMILTON. 

Boftened down. Real firmness is good for every 
thing. Strut is good for nothing." 

In a similar strain lie writes to Pickering a 
few months later (March 27, 1798), defining 
the proper relations to be maintained with Eng- 
land, in case the war against France should be 
actively prosecuted : — 

" I am against going immediately into alliance with 
Great Britain. It is my opinion that her interests 
will insure us her cooperation to the extent of her 
power, and that a treaty will not secure her further. 
On the other hand a treaty might entangle us. Pub- 
lic opinion is not prepared for it." 

England, he says, should give sufficient pow- 
ers to her minister here to meet all exigencies, 
and to enter into alliance if opportunity and 
public opinion permitted it. Then he refers 
to the necessity of acquiring Louisiana, which 
at that moment held a leading place in his 
thoughts. 

In the next letter, which I shall quote, we 
see, for the first time, a plain allusion to the 
* crisis " which might in the event of its occur- 
rence have a decisive effect upon his actions 
and upon his career. The letter is addressed 
10 Jay, who wished to appoint Hamilton to the 
vacancy in the United States Senate, caused 
oy the resignation of Judge Hobart, and if 
dated April 24, 1798. 



DREAD OF INFLUENCE OF FRANCE. 261 

"I have received your two favors of the 19th in- 
tant. I feel, as I ought, the mark of confidence 
they announce. But I am obliged by my situation 
to decline the appointment. This situation you are 
too well acquainted with to render it necessary for me 
to enter into explanation. There may arrive a crisis 
vhen I may conceive mysslf bound once more to sac- 
iifice the interests of my family to public call. But 
I must defer the change as long as possible." 

How deeply rooted his convictions had now 
become as to the dangers to be apprehended 
from the influence of France and of French 
ideas, and how real and menacing he felt these 
perils to be in the United States, are well illus- 
trated in a letter to Washington, dated May 19, 
1798. I have already referred to this letter in 
a previous chapter, but the passage in question 
deserves a full quotation in this connection. 

" It is more and more evident that the powerful 
faction which has for years opposed the government, 
is determined to go every length with France. I am 
sincere in declaring my full conviction, as the result 
of a long course of observation, that they are ready 
to new model our constitution under the influence or 
coercion of France; to form with her a perpetual 
alliance, offensive and defensive, and to give her a 
monopoly of our trade hj peculiar and exclusive priv- 
leges. This would be in substance, whatever it 
oight be in name, to make this country a province oi 
*J"raEce. Neither do I doubi tiiat her standard, di*- 



262 ALEXANDER HAMILTON. 

played in this country, would be directly or indirectly 
seconded by them, in pursuance of the project I have 
mentioned." 

His fears of social confusion were not only, 
as we see here, fully aroused, but his pride iu 
American nationality was deeply touched. In 
another passage, in the same letter, his dread 
and dislike of anything sectional in our politics, 
or of anything suggesting geographical divi- 
Bion, and consequent secession, come out very 
strikingly. 

"It is paiuful and alarming to remark that the 
opposition faction assumes so much a geographical 
complexion. As yet, from the south of Maryland, 
nothing has been heard, but accounts of disapproba- 
tion of our government, and approbation of or apol- 
ogy for France. This is a most portentous symptom 
and demands every human effort to change it." 

The mischiefs which he anticipated seemed 
to him in this exciting year to be so close at 
hand that we find him preparing in his own 
mind practical measures for meeting and over- 
coming them. His first thought, of course, was 
for the army, upon which he relied for the 
maintenance of order and government. It was 
with this purpose that he wrote as follows to 
Otis, December 27, 1798 : — 

" Any reduction of the actual force appears lo me 
inexpedient. It will argue to our enemies that w« 



HAMILTON'S POLICY IN 1799. 263 

are either very narrow in our resources, or that our 
ealousy of his designs has abated. Besides, that 
with a view to the possibility of internal disorders 
alone, the force authorized is not too considerable. 
The efficacy of militia for suppressing such disorders 
is not too much to be relied on." 

The army was his chief reliance, but he also 
had an extended plan for the proper course to 
be pursued by the Federalists now that they 
were in possession of all branches of the gov- 
ernment. This policy is fully set forth in the 
well-known letter to Dayton, written in 1799. 
I have already referred to it and given an out- 
line of its contents. It advised a vigorous 
strengthening of the central government in all 
directions, including a division of the large 
States, and the enactment of sharp alien and 
sedition laws. It is, as I have said, the best 
exposition of Hamilton's views at that trying 
period, is strongly characteristic of its author, 
and was so far as possible carried out by the 
Federalists. 

A little later in the same year, and in a simi- 
lar spirit, he wrote to ask the Attorney General, 
Hoffman, to prosecute a newspaper which had 
charged him with suppressing the " ' Aurora ' 
by pecuniary means." 

" Hitherto," he says, " I have forborne to resort to 
ihe laws for the punishment of the authors or abettors 



264 ALEXANDER HAMILTON. 

(of such attacks), and were I to consult personal con* 
giderations alone, I should continue in this course, re- 
paying hatred with contempt. But public motives 
now compel me to a different conduct. The designs 
of that faction to overturn our government, and with 
it the great pillars of social security and happiness in 
this country, become every day more manifest, and 
have of late acquired a system which renders them 
formidable." 

He then adds that one engine for the destruc- 
tion of society is the issue of libels calculated to 
destroy the character of the most conspicuous 
supporters of the government, as in this in- 
stance, by charging them with attempts to stifle 
the liberty of the press ; and he says that these 
intrigues and calumnies are carried on by Amer- 
ican citizens aided by foreign gold. 

The immediate danger which Hamilton 
dreaded at the time of the troubles with 
France, dropped out of sight during the heated 
struggles which preceded the election of 1800. 
Peace came, too, bringing quiet in its train 
everywhere, and while it served to make the 
contagion of French principles appear less viru- 
lent, it also pushed the " crisis," which Ham- 
ilton always anticipated, still farther into 
the background. After the excitement of the 
political battle had subsided, and when nothing 
was left but to watch the course of the Demo- 



HAMILTOIPa DESPONDENCY. 265 

eratic party in full possession of the govern- 
ment, Hamilton seems to have given way to a 
depression in regard to public affairs very un- 
usual to his strong nature. It seemed to him 
that all his labors had been wasted and misun- 
derstood, and that his achievements, and those 
of the great party which he had led, would 
crumble away beneath the gradual assaults of 
the now triumphant opposition. In this mood 
he wrote bitterly to Gouverneur Morris, giving 
vent to the disappointment which filled his soul 
when he thought of the success of his enemies, 
the seeming ingratitude of the people, and, as 
he believed, the waste and misapprehension of 
all the efforts which he had made for the wel- 
fare and glory of his country. The letter in 
question is dated February 27, 1802 : — 

" Mine is an odd destiny," he says. " Perhaps no 
man in the United States has sacrificed or done more 
for the present constitution than myself ; and, con- 
trary to all my anticipations of its fate, as you know, 
from the very beginning. I am still laboring to prop 
the frail and worthless fabric. Yet I have the mur 
murs of its friends no less than the curses of its foes 
for my reward. What can I do better than withdraw 
from the scene? Every day proves to me more 
and more, that this American world was not made 
'i>r me. 

** The time may ere long arrive when the minds of 



266 ALEXANDER HAMILFON. 

men will be prepared to make an effort to recover the 
constitution, but the many cannot now be brought to 
make a stand for its preservation. "We must wait a 
while. 

" You, friend Morris, are by birth a native of this 
country, but by genius an exotic. You mistake if 
you fancy that you are more of a favorite than my- 
self, or that you are in any sort upon a theatre suited 
to you." 

This frame of mind, in which a man in bitter 
ness of spirit gives up a world whicli he believes 
to be hopelessly blind and wrong, was thor- 
oughly alien to Hamilton. It could not have 
lasted long at any time. No matter how desper- 
ate the prospect, Hamilton's instinct was ever 
to push the battle, and to fight on despite all dis- 
couragements. Soon after this letter to Morris, 
therefore, we find him laying out a policy to be 
pursued by the Federalists in order to check 
their adversaries and recover their lost ground. 
The letter is written to Bayard, in April, 1802, 
and is one of the most curious and interesting 
in all Hamilton's correspondence. It shows 
how deeply imbued he had become with his 
dread of social disorders, and the extraordinary 
scheme which he presents for an association to 
combat the poisonous French doctrines, indicates 
the development of a state of mind which was 
jertainly highly strained and almost morbid ix 



ADVICE TO THE FEDERALISTS IN 1802. 267 

its extreme views of public affairs. He gives 
first some suggestions as to the policy to be fol 
lowed by the Federalists, which show very 
Btrikingly how deeply rooted his opinions had 
become as to the dangerous state of society, and 
the perils which threatened the country. He 
begins by pointing out that men cannot be gov- 
erned by reason, his estimate of human nature 
having become much lower in the contempla- 
tion of Democratic ascendency. He then says 
that while the Federalists have neglected to ap- 
peal to the passions and especially to the vanity 
of men, their opponents have thriven by assid- 
uously pandering to these qualities of mankind. 
The time has come for the Federalists to repair 
this error, not by any unworthy or revolution- 
ary devices, but by irregular methods which 
would be needless under a sound and stable gov- 
ernment. He then continues : — 

" In my opinion, the present constitution is the 
standard to which we are to cling. Under its ban- 
ners bond fide must we combat our political foes, re- 
jecting all changes but through the channel itself 
provides for amendments. By these general views 
of the subject have my reflections been guided. I 
now offer you the outline of the plan they have sug- 
gested. Let an association be formed, to be denomi 
nated 'The Christian Constitutional Society.* Its 
•)bject8 CO be : 1st. The support of the Christian re> 



268 ALEXANDER HAMILTON. 

ligion. 2d. The support of the constitution of th€ 
United States/* 

He then sketches its organization and dfr 
scribes its purposes as follows : — 

" 1st. The diffusion of information. 

" 2d. The use of all lawful means in concert to 
promote the election of ^^ men. 

" 3d. The promoting of institutions of a charitable 
and useful nature in the management of Federalists. 
The populous cities ought particularly to be attended 
to ; perhaps it would be well to institute in such 
places — 1st. Societies for the relief of emigrants. 
2d. Academies, each with one professor, for instruct 
ing the different classes of mechanics in the princi- 
ples of mechanics and the elements of chemistry. 
The cities have been employed by the Jacobins to 
give an impulse to the country ; and it is believed to 
be an alarming fact, that while the question of the 
Presidential election was pending in the House of 
Representatives, parties were organizing in several of 
the cities in the event of there being no election, to 
cut off the leading Federalists and seize the govern- 
ment." 

In addition to this society he urges a strong 
and immediate effort for the repeal of the law 
repealing the Judiciary Act, and be counsels in 
other respects the adoption of a waiting policy 
until popular opinion should be educated an<f 
turned in the right direction. 



LETTER TO NEW ENGLAND FEDERALISTS, 269 

The last letter from which I shall quote, and 
Hamilton's last letter on public concerns, re- 
lates to the Separatist movement in New Eng- 
land. There is a deep and pathetic interest in 
these words, written when the shadow of death 
was actually lying dark upon his path. They 
show once more that in all his dread of democ- 
racy and French principles, the national senti- 
ment still rose supreme, and that with his latest 
breath he resisted any plan which threatened 
the unity of the country. The letter is ad- 
dressed to Sedgwick, and is dated July 10, 1804 : 

'• I will here express but one sentiment, which is, 
that dismemberment of our empire will be a clear sac- 
rifice of great positive advantages without any coun- 
terbalancing good, administering no relief to our real 
disease, which is democracy, the poison of which by 
a subdivision will only be the more concentrated in 
each part, and consequently the more virulent." 

By these extracts, if they have served their 
purpose here, we can perceive the drift of Ham- 
ilton's thought. We can see the effect of the 
French revolution and of the working of politi- 
cal forces in this country upon his opinions, and 
we are now in a position to understand and de- 
fine the exact nature of that " crisis " which 
liad haunted Hamilton for years, which had 
grown to be his deepest conviction and his first 
bought, and to which be gave up his life. 



270 ALEXANDER HAMILTON. 

Hamilton believed the constitution to be un- 
equal to the burden imposed upon it, and he 
^lonsidered the government too weak. At any 
moment, as it seemed to him, there might be 
a general upheaval, and that then the elements 
which had desolated France and swept over 
Europe might here engage in a conflict for su- 
premacy. Then would the country be menaced 
with anarchy and ruin ; property would be con- 
fiscated, society broken up, religion trampled 
under foot, and everything that makes life worth 
having would be in jeopardy. Then the salva- 
tion of the country and the preservation of con- 
stitutional liberty would demand a party of 
order, an army, and a leader ready to play the 
part of a saviour of society, and establish the 
government on strong and enduring founda- 
tions. That great part, Hamilton felt, would 
fall to him, and if the contingency had been 
possible, there can be no doubt that he was the 
man to whom the party of order would have 
turned. He could not do this, he could not 
stand at the head of an army, if it were possible 
for any man to cast even the most groundless 
imputation upon his personal courage. He was 
utterly at fault in supposing that there were m 
ihe United States the same elements and th€ 
lame forces as in France. Both race and hia 
5ory made their existence impossible. The rep 



MATURE OF CRISIS FEARED BY HAMILTON. 271 

I'esentative democracy developing in America 
was more hostile to the anarchy of the French 
revolution than the strongest and most ener- 
getic government which the wit of man could 
devise. Hamilton's mistake was neither un- 
natural nor uncommon; but, joined with his 
just belief of the duty which would devolve 
upon him in such a crisis as he anticipated, it 
made it imperative for him to accept the chal- 
lenge of Burr. It is neither fanciful nor 
strained to regard Hamilton's death as a result 
of the opinions bred by the French revolution. 
That terrible convulsion had many illustrious 
victims of all nations and all creeds, but hardly 
one more brilliant or more uselessly sacrificed 
than the great statesman who fell before Burr's 
pistol that peaceful July morning. 

Thus far I have dealt with Hamilton solely 
as a public man. It is, indeed, diflScult to ap- 
proach him in any other way, when his life and 
talents were given so constantly and so com- 
pletely to the service of the public. He died 
a private man, mourned by a nation ; he had 
\ived, except in his very last years, immersed 
in the affairs of the commonwealth and in the 
full glare of publicity. Every act of his was 
scrutinized and examined, eveiy slip chronicled, 
Every mistake magnified, while he stood for 



272 ALEXANDER HAMILTON. 

years in the highest places, assuming every re- 
sponsibility and conspicuous before the eyes oi 
all men. This unsparing publicity whicli pur- 
sued Hamilton in his life, has attended him in 
his death. No American, except Washington, 
has had everything v^hich he ever wrote, said, 
or did, published with such elaboration as has 
fallen to the lot of Hamilton. No other Amer- 
ican has been, historically speaking, so much 
discussed, so much criticised, and so much writ- 
ten about. All this enhances the difficulty of 
any fresh study of Hamilton's life, but at the 
same time, even the briefest biography would be 
incomplete without an attempt, at least, to por- 
tray him as a man, to analyze the traits of his 
mind and character, and to define the quality of 
his greatness. 

In person Hamilton was well made, of light 
and active build, but very small, much below 
the average height. His friends were wont to 
call him the " little lion ; " and it is somewhat 
remarkable that his stature seems to have inter- 
fered so slightly, if at all, with his success as 
an orator. A commanding and imposing pres- 
ence is a great aid in affecting an audience, and 
yet Hamilton was one of the most impressive 
speakers of his time. He was, too, the most 
eloquent man, and the most effective advocate 
©I his day, whether in court or in conveiition 



PERSONAL APPEARANCE. 273 

[f we can judge by results, by the fragments that 
remain of his speeches, and by the testimony 
of eye-witnesses. There was certainly no one 
who was in active public life during the same 
period, unless it be John Adams, or Fisher 
A.mes on one memorable occasion, who could 
for a moment be compared with him as an ora- 
tor. It is very plain, too, that Hamilton's suc- 
cess in this direction was by no means wholly 
due to what he said, or to his power of reason- 
ing and of lucid and forcible statement. The 
man was impressive. Inches of stature and of 
girth were lacking, but he was none the less 
full of dignity. In this, of course, his looks 
helped him. His head was finely shaped, sym- 
metrical, and massive. His eyes were dark, 
deep-set, and full of light and fire. He had a 
long, rather sharp nose, a well-shaped, close-set 
mouth, and a strong, firm jaw. The character- 
istics of the spare, clean-cut features are pen- 
etration and force. There is a piercing look 
about the face even in repose ; and when Ham- 
ilton was moved a fire came into his eyes which 
we are told had a marvellous effect. But it was 
tjie soul which shone through his eyes, and an- 
imated his mobile countenance, that made him 
BO effective in speech. As men listened to him, 
they felt profoundly the mastery of the strong 
nature, the imperious will, and the passionate 

18 



274 ALEXANDER HAMILTON. 

energy which gave such force to his pathos, to 
his invective and to the even flow of clear, tell- 
ing argument. The impression which Hamil- 
ton was capable of producing is well illustrated 
by the famous scene of the murder trial, when 
he laid bare the guilt of Croucher. Yet the 
excitement of a court-room was not necessary to 
such a feat. In the quiet of an ofiice solely by 
his own resistless determination he wrested a 
conveyance, which was unjust and had been 
unfairly obtained, from the oppressor of his 
client. 

In private life Hamilton was much beloved 
and most attractive. He talked well and freely. 
He was open-hearted and hospitable, full of 
high spirits and geniality. In his own family 
he was idolized by wife and children. The af- 
fection which he inspired in all who knew him 
was largely due to the perfect generosity of his 
nature, for he gave time and money with a lav- 
ish hand to all who sought his aid. He carried 
this habit into his business to his own detri- 
ment. He would often refuse to make any 
charge to poor clients, and never could be per- 
Buaded to accept anything beyond a reasonable 
and modest fee. He had in truth a contempt 
for money, and while he made a nation's fort- 
une, he never made his own. At his death he 
'eft hifi family little except his name and fame 



SELF-CONFIDENCE. 275 

Like most men of great talents and strong 
irill, Hamilton had a large measure of self-con- 
fidence. Just after he left the treasury, ne 
feared that Congress would fail to treat the 
finances in a proper way. He wrote to a friend 
in great wrath that he would not stand tamely 
by and see the nation disgraced ; if Congress 
did not do their duty they would have to reckon 
with him. On another occasion he was dis- 
pleased by what he considered a useless demand 
for information on the part of the Senate. He 
thereupon addressed a communication^ to that 
august body in which he lectured them as to 
their conduct, and took them to task roundly 
for their misbehavior. This letter is quite a 
curiosity, and the meekness with which the 
Senate apparently accepted the rebuke is not 
the least amusing part of the affair. All this 
was thoroughly characteristic of the man. The 
greater the odds the more defiantly and the 
more confidently he faced opposition. On one 
or two occasions this self-confidence took the 
more disagreeable form of self-assertion, but 
Buch outbreaks were rare. 

Hamilton's defects sprang not from weakness 
but from the strength of his passions, which 
bometimes overmastered his reason. Thus it was 

"^ The letter is given in full in Adams's Life of Gallatin, p. 
116, and is also to be found in American State Papers. ClaimSt 



276 ALEXANDER HAMILTON. 

m his relations with women which had an un« 
enviable notoriety. It was passion again which 
led him into the unworthy proposition to Go"v- 
ernor Jay and into his wild attack upon Ad- 
ams. His faults were those of a powerful and 
passionate nature when it had broken down all 
the barriers of self-control. His errors are all 
the more to be regretted because he was a man 
of such wide influence and striking abilities, 
and for this reason were, of course, all the more 
dangerous. 

There is no better evidence of Hamilton's 
greatness than is to be found in the letters and 
sayings of his bitterest enemies. Burr pro- 
nounced the man to be lost who put himself on 
paper with him. JeJBferson called him the "Co- 
lossus of the Federalists," and always referred 
to the acts and opinions of his opponents as 
those of Hamilton, speaking of that party by 
the name of its leader. Ambrose Spencer, the 
distinguished judge, who had had many conflicts 
with Hamilton, and, on at least one occasion, 
had felt the edge of his sarcasm, paid him one 
of the handsomest tributes ever rendered to his 
abilities, at the same time characterizing the 
quality of his greatness and his influence with 
peculiar felicity : — 

"Alexander Hamilton," said Spencer, "was th 
graatest man this country ever produced I knew 



OPINIONS OF SPENCER AND KENT. 277 

Mm well. I was in situations often to obsefve and 
ntudy him. I saw him at the bar and at home. He 
argued cases before me while I sat as judge on the 
bench. Webster has done the same. In power of 
reasoning Hamilton was the equal of Webster ; and 
more than this can be said of no man. In crea- 
tive power Hamilton was infinitely Webster's &upo- 
rior. ... It was he, more than any other man, wno 
thought out the constitution of the United States and 
the details of the government of the Union ; and, out 
of the chaos that existed after the Revolution, raised 
a fabric every part of which is instinct with his 
thought. I can truly say that hundreds of politi- [ 
cians and statesmen of the day get both the web i 
and woof of their thoughts from Hamilton's brains* 
He, more than any man, did the thinking of the I 
time." 

Chancellor Kent, who was one of Hamilton's 
warmest admirers, says of him that — 

" He rose at once to the loftiest heights of profes- 
sional eminence, by his profound penetration, his 
power of analysis, the comprehensive grasp and 
strength of his understanding, and the firmness, frank- 
ness, and integrity of his character. We may say of 
aim, in reference to his associates, as was said of Pa- 
pinian : ' Omnes longo post se intervallo reliquerit.' " 

There is not much to choose between the 
praise of the quondam foe and of the constant 
Wend. Both the Federalist and the Democrat, 



278 ALEXANDER HAMILTON. 

eminent lawyers and judges both, were agreed 
as to Hamilton's ability. 

Among the Federalists Hamilton had a band 
of devoted friends who comprised a very large 
proportion of the most distinguished men in 
the nation. They were an able, strong, hard- 
headed, and rather dogmatic body, most of them 
leaders themselves, and%holding high places in 
the republic. Yet they supported Hamilton 
with a fidelity which has been rarely equalled. 
The roll of his followers is enough by itself 
to establish his position in American history- 
Indifference was impossible toward Hamilton. 
He was too strong and too open to inspire luke- 
warm sentiments, and he was loved and hated 
with equal intensity. At the same time Ham- 
ilton, as I have already said, was preeminently 
a leader of leaders. He could do " the think- 
ing of his time," he could issue orders, or plan 
a policy, or act in conjunction with men who 
followed or sustained him in obedience to the 
dictates of reason. But he was never an adept 
in the difficult and delicate art of managing 
men wherein his great rival Jefferson stood 
supreme. He was as far as possible from be- 
ing a demagogue, and he was not even a pop- 
ular leader, for he had too great a distrust o* 
democracy to appeal successfully to the sym 
pathy of the masses. In this he was a fit and 



HIS COURAGE. 279 

fcypical leader of the party to which he be- 
longed. He could not float with the currents 
of public sentiment and had no faith in thenL 
He was a leader, and could not follow. He 
could mark out a path and walk in it, and if 
the people hesitated or held back, he would 
walk alone. This did not arise from narrow- 
ness, for Hamilton had always great liberality 
of mind, but simply from the strength of his 
convictions and from reliance on his own abil- 
ities, which made it impossible for him to seek 
for success by yielding a jot of what he be- 
lieved, after mature deliberation, to be right 
and true. This implies, of course, great force 
of character; but Hamilton had also a bold- 
ness of disposition which stamped itself on his 
financial and foreign policy, and, at times, 
amounted to an almost reckless audacity. The 
miserable Reynolds affair has cast a shadow 
upon the honor of James Monroe, and its 
wretched details have found a place in one of 
the biographies of Jefferson. No one can de- 
sire to rake over the ashes of this miserable 
Bcandal, but in its effect it showed the courage 
of Hamilton in a most striking manner. Drawn 
by his uncurbed passion into a low intrigue 
with a worthless woman, he found himself 
threatened with a black imputation upon his 
•fficia] integrity. At the cost of bitter grief 



280 ALEXANDER HAMILTON. 

to himself and to all whom he most loved, he 
published a pamphlet in which he told the 
whole unpleasant story. The manliness of the 
act, the self-inflicted punishment, and the high 
sense of public honor thus exhibited, silenced 
even his opponents ; but the confession was one 
which must have wrung Hamilton to the quick, 
and it shows an amount of nerve and determi- 
nation for which our history can furnish no 
parallel. 

Hamilton's career as a public man had closed 
before his death. Had he lived longer he would 
have added to his reputation as a lawyer and 
writer ; but it is very doubtful if he would have 
again entered public life. His work was done. 
It was a great work, and had been well per- 
formed. He cared but little for office. He was 
ambitious, but his objects were fame and power, 
to be obtained by advancing the welfare and 
dignity of his country. So long as he could 
lead his party and help to shape the national 
policy, he was perfectly content to remain in a 
lawyer's chambers in New York. A great office 
had to him no value in itself, but only in what 
he was able to achieve by holding it ; and every 
one will admit that few men have accomplished 
10 much. He founded the financial system o\ 
the United States, and converted the barren 
'i.laiiseB of the Constitution into a living organ- 



ma CHARACTER AS A STATESMAN. 281 

Lsm. He established the doctrine of a liberal 
3onstruction and of the implied powers; and 
he shares with Washington the honor of devis- 
ing and carrying out the foreign policy of the 
United States. This is enough. There is no 
need to rehearse the almost endless list of lesser 
matters which bear the mark of his fertile and 
powerful intellect. He was always at work, 
and we look in vain for sterile places in his life. 
There are two classes of statesmen, — those 
who are great in their calling, and those who, 
in addition, represent great ideas. Instances of 
the former kind abound. Examples of the lat- 
ter are rare. Hamilton is one of the statesmen 
of creative minds who represent great ideas. It 
is for this reason that he left the deep mark of 
his personal influence upon our history. His 
principles of finance, of foreign affairs, of polit- 
ical economy, and of the powers and duties of 
government under the constitution may be 
found on every page of our history, and are full 
of vitality to-day. But Hamilton is identified 
with two other ideas which go far deeper, and 
which have been the moving forces in our na- 
tional development. He did not believe in 
democracy as a system of government. He 
strove with all his energy to make the experi- 
ment of the constitution succeed, but he doubted 
xts merit at the outset, and finally came to the 



282 ALEXANDER HAMlLTOlf. 

conclusion that in its existing form it was 
doomed to failure. He believed in class influ- 
ence and representation, in strong government, 
and in what, for want of a better phrase, may 
be called an aristocratic republic. Curiously 
*^nough, this theory was put in practice only in 
the South, where Hamilton had scarcely any 
followers. 

The other great idea of which he was the 
embodiment, was that of nationality. No other 
man of that period, except Washington, was 
fully imbued with the national spirit. To Ham- 
ilton it was the very breath of his public life, 
the essence of his policy. To this grand prin- 
ciple many men, especially in later times, have 
rendered splendid services, and made noble sac- 
rifices ; but there is no single man to whom it 
owes more than to Hamilton. In a time when 
American nationality meant nothing, he alone 
grasped the great conception in all its fullness, 
and gave all he had of will and intellect to 
make its realization possible. He alone per- 
ceived the destiny which was in store for the 
republic. For this he declared that the United 
States must aim at an ascendant in the affairs 
of America. For this he planned the conquest 
of Louisiana and the Floridas, and, despite the 
frowns of his friends, rose above all party feel* 
lugs and sustained Jefferson in his unhesitat. 



SUCCESS OF HAMILTON'S THEORIES. 283 

ing seizure of the opportunity to acquire that 
vast territory by purchase. To these ends 
everything he did was directed, and in his task 
of founding a government he also founded a 
nation. It was a great work. Others contrib- 
uted much to it, but Hamilton alone fully un- 
derstood it. On the other side was Jefferson, 
also a man who represented ideas, that of de- 
mocracy and that of a confederacy, with a weak 
general government and powerful states threat- 
ening secession. The ideas which these two 
men embodied have in their conflict made up 
the history of the United States. The demo- 
cratic principles of Jefferson, and the national 
principles of Hamilton, have prevailed, and 
have sway to-day throughout the length and 
breadth of the land. But, if we go a step far- 
ther, we find that the great Federalist has the 
advantage. The democratic system of Jeffer- 
son is administered in the form and on the 
principles of Hamilton, and while the former 
went with the current and fell in with the dom- 
inant forces of the time, Hamilton established 
his now accepted principles, and carried hia 
projects to completion in the face of a relentless 
opposition, and against the mistaken wishes of 
ci large part of the people. 

To attempt to measure the exact proportions 
of a great man is neither very easy nor perhaps 



284 ALEXANDER HAMILTON. 

very profitable. This biography has been wnt- 
ten to little purpose if it has failed to show the 
influence of Hamilton upon our history, and 
this of itseK is a title of the highest distinction. 
It is given to but few men to impress their in- 
dividuality indelibly upon the history of a great 
nation. But Hamilton, as a man, achieved even 
more than this. His versatility was extraordi- 
nary. He was a great orator and lawyer, and 
he was also the ablest political and constitu 
tional writer of his day, a good soldier, and pos- 
sessed of a wonderful capacity for organization 
and practical administration. He was a master 
in every field that he entered, and however he 
may have erred in moments of passion, he nevei 
failed. Weakness and incompetency were not 
to be found in Hamilton. Comparisons are 
valueless, because points of difference between 
men are endless. John Marshall ranked Ham- 
ilton next to Washington, and with the judg- 
ment of their great chief justice Americans are 
wont to be content. But wherever he is placed, 
BO long as the people of the United States form 
one nation, the name of Alexander Hamilton 
will be held in high and lasting honor, and 
even in the wreck of governments that great in 
tc'Uect would still command the homage of men, 



APPENDIX. 



NOTE A. 



Mr. Bancroft in the eighth voluD.e of his hi*- 
tory of the United States (page 79), in describing the 
great meeting at New York in July 1774, says : " It 
has been kept in memory, that on this occasion a 
young man from abroad, so small and delicate in his 
organization that he appeared to be much younger 
than perhaps he really was, took part in the debate 
before the crowd. . . . He proved to be Alexander 
Hamilton, a West Indian. His mother, while he was 
yet a child, had left him an orphan and poor. A 
father's care he seems never to have known. The 
first written trace of his existence is in 1766, when 
his name appears as witness to a legal paper executed 
in the Danish island of Santa Cruz." I have fol- 
lowed in my first chapter the ordinarily accepted ac- 
count of Hamilton's birth and parentage, and after 
ihe most careful consideration and investigation which 
I have been able to give, I am not of the opinion that 
there is sufficient evidence to jastify any biographer 
n setting it aside. At the same time grave doubts 
have been cast upon this account, and as they pro- 
ceeded from so eminent an authority as Mr. Bancroft, 



286 APPENDIX. 

I felt that it was impossible for me to pass them over 
in silence, especially when entirely new material re- 
lating to this subject has come to my knowledge. 
The question of Hamilton's parentage possesses the 
interest which always attaches to the origin of very 
distinguished men, and the date of his birth affecti 
our estimate of his youthful powers. On any theory 
Hamilton displayed great talents at a very early age, 
but if the accepted date of his birth is correct, hia 
precocity was almost marvellous. Mr. Bancroft is 
evidently of the opinion that Hamilton was older 
than he was said to have been when he spoke at the 
meeting in the fields, for he could hardly have " ap- 
peared " less than seventeen, which is the age given 
him by his biographer. Mr. Bancroft's doubts arose 
partly, perhaps, from the intrinsic improbability of 
such extraordinary intellectual maturity, but chiefly 
from the deed signed by Hamilton as a witness in 
1766. If Hamilton was born in 1757, he was only 
nine years old when he signed this instrument. It is 
certainly not a little remarkable that a child of that 
tender age should have been accepted as a compe- 
tent witness to an important document, but any con- 
clusion based on this phenomenon must of course be 
mere conjecture. If at thirteen he was able to man- 
age the affairs of a considerable merchant he might 
very well have been a fit witness at nine. The char- 
acter of his signature is of more importance than tha 
?act of his affixing it to a deed. I have carefully ex- 
umined an exact tracing of this signature. The hand 
viiting is obviously Hamilton's. The signature 



APPENDIX. 287 

ivritten in fair, open hand, and might well be the 
rvork ol man. Only a close examination, which re- 
^reals a certain roundness in the letters, and delib- 
eration on the part of the writer, suggests youthful 
penmanship. The signature is certainly a very re- 
markable one to have been written by a boy nine 
/ears old. But then it is not at all an impossible feat, 
and is by no means so extraordinary as the letter to 
Ned Stevens a few years later, or, indeed, as many of 
Hamilton's youthful performances. 

This document, signed in 1766, is the only evidence 
directly bearing on Hamilton's age, but the fact that 
the date of his birth has been questioned, leads nec- 
essarily to an inquiry as to the circumstances of his 
origin and parentage, which have rendered such 
doubts possible. In a letter to a kinsman in Scotland, 
in 1797, he himself says : " You no doubt have un- 
derstood that my father's affairs at a very early day 
went to wreck ; so as to have rendered his situation 
during the greatest part of his life ineligible. This 
state of things occasioned a separation between him 
and me, when I was very young, and threw me upon 
the bounty of my mother's relatives, some of whom 
were then wealthy, though, by vicissitudes to which 
human affairs are so liable, they have been since much 
L-eJuced and broken up. I myself, at about sixteen, 
came to this country." This meagre statement v\ 
^\ Hamilton himself tells us of his origin. He sepa- 
rated completely from his past when he joined the 
armj of the Revolution. We have no letters from 
relatives or friends in the West Indies except from 



288 APPENDIX. 

Dr. Kdox, the Nevis clergyman. There is also a 
letter, dated in 1785, from Hamilton to a brother 
James, who had written to him for money. In this 
letter Hamilton says that he has not heard from his 
brother and correspondent for years, and does not 
know whether he is married or single. He then asks 
anxiously about his father, saying that he not only is 
totally ignorant of that gentleman's circumstances. 
but that he does not know whether his father is alive 
or dead.^ After Hamilton became famous his father 
appeared, or rather wrote to him, and he sent his 
father money and urged the old gentleman to come 
to this country. 

This lack of information concerning the family and 
early life of such an eminent man is of itself enough 
to cause inquiry, and every one versed in American 
history is aware of the fact that a certain amount of 
mystery has hung over Hamilton's birth and parent- 
age. Every student of the period is also familiar 
with the story, which oral tradition has handed down, 
that Hamilton was the illegitimate son of a rich West 
Indian planter or merchant, generally supposed to 
have been Mr. Stevens, the father of Hamilton's early 
friend and school-fellow. 

This tradition has always been vague and unsup- 
ported. In the course of an examination of the 
Pickering papers for another object, I found among 
the memoranda collected by Colonel Pickering, with 
the purpose of writing memoirs of his contemporaries, 
*wo substantially similar accounts of Hamilton's birti 
History of the Republic, by J. C. Hamilton, vol. vii. p. 8^1 i 



APPENDIX. 289 

ind parentage. It must be remembered that although 
Colonel Pickering did not always agree with Ham- 
ilton he was one of his most devoted admirers. He 
considered Hamilton by far the greatest man of hia 
time and country, ranking him without hesitation 
above Washington. The memoranda in question are 
is follows : — 

4.LEXANDER HAMILTON. Philadelphia, February 15, 
1822. 
This morning I met with my friend Mr. James Yard 
of this city, with whom I have had an acquaintance of 
between twenty and thirty years. He and Dr. Stevens of 
the West Indies married, if I mistake not, two sisters, 
the daughters of the Danish Governor of Santa Cruz, of 
the name of Walterstorff (or a name sounding like it). 
Mr, Yard first introduced Dr. Stevens to me, when it was 
contemplated to appoint him American Consul General 
for St. Domingo, at the time that the distinguished negro 
General Toussaint L'Ouverture bore the chief sway in 
the Island. The conversation led us to speak of General 
Alexander Hamilton, I remarked to Mr. Yard, that at 
the first sight of Dr. Stevens his likeness to Hamilton 
was so strong, I concluded they were brothers, for it was 
generally understood that Hamilton was an illegitimate 
non of a gentleman of that name. Mr. Yard now told me 
that General Hamilton was born in the island of Nevis 
(near St. Christophers), the natural son of a Scotch gen- 

leniaa of the name of Hamilton ; that he was an ap- 
prentice to Nicholas Cruger, who afterwards removed (or 
returned) to New York ; that there Hamilton and Stevens 
went to school together ; and since the death of Hamilton, 
an aunt, the sister of his mother, came to New York, 
»nd was for some weeks in Mrs. Hamilton's house, froni 
19 



290 APPENDIX. 

whom (Mr. Yard naturally concluded) Mrs. Hamilton mufll 

have received full information of her husband's parent- 
age ; that this aunt being poor, and removed to Burling- 
ton, in New Jersey, received the aids of benevolence, 
partly from Mr. Yard ; who also facilitated her return to 
the West Indies. Mr. Yard added, that General Ham- 
ilton's mother died but two or three years ago. 

Mr. Yard told me, that after he knew that the papers, 
collected in relation to writing the life of Hamilton, had 
been put into the hands of Mr. Joseph Hopkinson, he 
advised Hopkinson frankly to state, that Hamilton was 
the natural son of a Scotch gentleman in the West In- 
dies, as an avowal of a fact for which Hamilton, not 
being responsible, ought not to suffer in his reputation. 
[Mr. Yard (a gentleman of distinguished sagacity and in- 
formation) might also think an open avowal of the fact 
more dignified in relation to a person of Hamilton's ex- 
alted talents and integrity, than any other course ; and 
that to glide over his birth, the birth of a man so eminent, 
without adverting to his father, would amount to a con- 
fession that he was (in I believe English law-language) 
" filius nullius, " or in plain English, " Nobody knew 
who was his father," the meaning of both expressions 
being that he was some one's natural son.] 

As to the strong likeness between General Hamilton 
»,nd Dr. Stevens, Mr. Yard could give no account; al- 
tho' it seemed apparent that he thought them near of kin. 
In cases of this sort, the possibility of kindred blood gives 
rise to surmises, or strong suspicions, of which no prooi 
is attainable! — From the Pickering MSS. vol. li. p. 250. 

Alexander Hamilton. June 29, 1822. 

Altho* little if anything was publicly spoken, yet i* 
leemed always to have been understood, among those 



APPENDIX. 291 

i^ho were acquainted with this extraordinary man. tha< 
ne was the illegitimate offspring of a Mr. Hamilton, in 
the West Indies. Meeting this morning with Mr. James 
Yard, — a merchant of Philadelphia whom I have long 
known, a gentleman distinguished for his good sense 
Bnd information, and who had lived for some time in the 
West Indies, and was particularly conversant with the 
Danish Islands of St. Thomas and St. Croix, — I renewed 
the subject of General Hamilton's parentage, of which 
we had before conversed, and Mr. Yard repeated : That 
Hamilton was born in the Island of Nevis, the reputed 
son of a Scotch merchant of the name of Hamilton. 
That he was some time in the store of Mr. Cruger (I be- 
lieve in St. Croix), and was sent to New York to obtain 
an education, it being observed that he possessed a mind 
of a superior cast. Mr. Yard supposed that Mr. Cruger 
(who was from New York) contributed towards the 
means required for that object. Edward Stevens (after- 
wards Dr. Stevens with whom I was acquainted in this 
city) was sent with Hamilton to New York, for the same 
purpose — his education. 

About the year 1798, after the French had been massa- 
cred or expelled from Hispaniola, and the negroes under 
Toussaint were masters of the French part of the island, 
it was thought expedient by the American Government 
TAdams then the President) to send thither an agent, in 
the character of Consul General, and from my inquiries 
Loncerning Dr. Stevens, then in Philadelphia, he ap- 
peared in all respects singularly qualified for the office. 
He had long resided in the West Indies, understood the 
French language, was very intelligent, and a worthy 
man. With his brother-in-la^, James Yard (for I un- 
derstood they had married sisters, the daughters of the 
QovBrnor Walterstorff of one of the Danish Islands), J 



292 APPENDIX. 

Dad a previous acquaintance; and to him I expressed my 
opinion of Dr. Stevens, from what I had heard of hii 
character, from Mr. Yard, or some other source of in« 
formation. The arrangements being thus far advanced, } 
Baid to Mr. Yard: " But I have not yet seen Dr. Stevens.' 
Mr. Yard answered, " I will bring him to you." They 
came together to see me. At the first glance, I waa 
Ftruck with the extraordinary similitude of his and Gen- 
eral Hamilton's faces ; I thought they must be brothers. 
To-day, Mr. Yard informed me that the remark had been 
made a thousand times ; that when young children, they 
lived together in the family of the father of Stevens, and 
were sent together to New York for their education. 
Conjecture here will suppose some secrets, which, if 
known, might account for the striking likeness of these 
two persons. 

Mr. Hamilton, the reputed father of the General, be- 
came a planter in Granada. Whether he patronized, or 
in any way provided even for the education of Alexander, 
Mr. Yard did not know. An aunt of Alexander's came 
from the West Indies to New York, some years ago, and 
lived a good while in the family of Mrs. Hamilton, the 
General's widow. Thence the aunt (I think Mr. Yard 
called her name Mitchell) went to Burlington; where, 
becoming blind, a collection was made among some of 
Hamilton's friends, to enable her to go back to the West 
Indies. There is now in this city a person (I think Mr. 
Yard called him a merchant and pronounced his name, 
but which I do not recollect) Mr. Yard said, the son of 
another sister of General Hamilton's mother. — From tht 
Pickering MS S. vol. lip. 302; in possession of the Massa- 
uhusetts Historical Society. 

It does not, of course, in any way detract from 
Hamilton's fame or from his merits if any of these 



APPENDIX. 298 

itories should be true. It is needless to say that such a 
fact would not reflect upon him or upon those who bear 
his name, and have the honor to be descended from 
him. His rise was remarkable and was equally hon- 
orable to his talents and character when it is remem- 
bered that he came a stranger from an obscure island, 
one of the pettiest possessions of England, and that be 
made his way to the very highest rank in everything 
which he attempted, unsupported by wealth and un- 
aided by family connections. If, in addition to all the 
difficulties which he overcame, that of illegitimacy be 
added, it is simply a new title to the respect of the 
world for his genius and force of character. One of 
the penalties of his greatness is the fact that thereby 
the question of his birth and parentage assumes con- 
siderable historical interest. 

It may be, said that Colonel Pickering's memoranda 
are mere gossip. Such they seem on their face, and 
nothing would be more distasteful to me than to 
print them, if they could thus be put aside. They 
could be condemned in this way if we had a clear, 
authentic, and well proved account of Hamilton's 
origin. As this is not the case, the memoranda of 
Colonel Pickering, taken in conjunction with the 
doubts expressed by Mr. Bancroft and the tradition 
familiar to students of our history, acquire an impor- 
tance and interest which they would not otherwise 
possess, and which render it impossible silently to 
pass them over in any attempt to write Hamilton's 
life. To explain clearly what has just been said, ilk 
is necessary to look closely at the accepted account 



294 APPENDIX. 

unci show briefly why it is of such a nature as to 

ciaks doubts possible and give importance to Colone* 
Pickering's statements. 

We are not told by Mr. John C. Hamilton, either 
in the first and unfinished life of his father or in his 
second elaborate and complete life, entitled the " His- 
tory of the Republic," the Christian name of Hamil- 
ton's maternal grandfather, Mr. Faucette, or of Ham- 
ilton's mother, or of his mother's first husband. Wo 
are not told when or where Mrs. Hamilton was mar- 
ried to her first husband Lavine, from whom it is said 
she was divorced. Divorce was extremely rare in 
the colonies. In England and in the crown provinces 
it involved long, difficult, and expensive proceedings 
of the greatest publicity. We are not told when, 
where, how, or for what cause the divorce was ob- 
tained. We are not told when or where Mr. and 
Mrs. James Hamilton were married. In the first and 
unfinished life it is said that " there were several 
sons of whom Alexander was the youngest." In the 
" History of the Republic " it is stated that Hamilton 
was the only surviving child ; and yet in the appendix 
to the same work a letter is given, to which I have 
already referred, written by Hamilton to a brother 
named James. If this contradiction is explained by 
a second marriage of Hamilton's father, it can only 
be said that there is no mention of such a marriage 
In the first and unfinished life it is said that Hamil 
ton was confided to the care of his mother's relatives 
Mr. l^eter Lytton and his sister, afterwards Mrs 
Uitchell. In the "History of the Republic,' Mr 



APPENDIX. 295 

Lytton and Mrs. Mitchell have disappeared and Ham- 
ilton's guardians are spoken of simply as his mother's 
relatives. From the Pickering memoranda we learn 
that Mrs. Mitchell came to this country and lived 
with Hamilton's widow, and that she was a sister of 
Hamilton's mother. Mr. Peter Lytton was therefore 
the brother of Hamilton's mother, and her maiden 
name must have been Lytton and not Faucette, unless 
there was a second marriage in this instance also, 
and the relationship between her and Lytton, there- 
fore, only that of the half-blood. Mr. John C. Ham- 
ilton says that Hamilton's mother died while Alex- 
ander was still a child. Mr. Yard, on the other hand, 
who had married into a West Indian family, who was 
a close connection of Edward Stevens, Hamilton's 
earliest friend and school-fellow, and who was there- 
fore in a position to know, says that Hamilton's 
mother was living in 1818. The unquestioned re- 
semblance between Stevens and Hamilton would be 
of no great importance and might readily be dismissed 
as accidental were it not for the additional fact that 
they were educated, came to this country, and went 
to college together, and that, according to Mr. Yard, 
Hamilton was brought up in the Stevens family. 

Enough has been said to show the cause of the 
ioubts which have existed as to Hamilton's origin, 
and also the reason for the interest and importance 
which attach to the Pickering memoranda as the only 
evidence we have on the point from Hamilton's con- 
temporaries, and which render their publication his* 
x)rically desirable and even necessary. All the evi- 



296 APPENDIX. 

dence has now been presented so far as I have been 
able to collect it, and the readers of this note can 
draw conclusions from it as well as I can. The vari- 
ous facts from the different sources cannot be rec- 
onciled with each other, or formed into a clear and 
coherent narrative as they stand, but this is probably 
jwing to lack of fullness of statement. 

The usually accepted version rests on the meagre 
statement of Hamilton himself which I have quoted, 
and on the vague and unsupported account given by 
Mr. John C. Hamilton. It may be said that the au- 
thority of Hamilton and of his son is enough on such 
a matter, and in the absence of convincing proof to 
the contrary, I have so treated it, and fully admitting 
the force of this argument, I have accepted their 
statement in this biography. As to the question of 
age, Hamilton himself could hardly have been much 
mistaken. He says he was sixteen when he came to 
this country, and I have no doubt that on any theory 
of his parentage this statement is correct, or very 
nearly so. He may fairly be accepted as one of the 
most remarkable examples of mental precocity of 
which we have any knowledge. 

In conclusion, let me say more definitely if possible 
than I have yet done, that I have discussed this mat- 
ter fully, and have printed this note and the Pickering 
memoranda, solely because I did not feel that it would 
have been honest for a biographer to suppress such 
new and important statements, however vague and in 
ponclusive, in regard to the birth and parentage of » 
man who was so highly distinguished, and who left 



APPENDIX. 297 

•uch deep marks ot bis personal iniluence uix)n the 
history and institutions of the United States. 



NOTE B. 

nie quarrel between Hamilton and Washington 
which led to the former's leaving the staff of the com- 
mander-in-chief, has always been given an importance 
which perhaps does not properly belong to it. It has 
at all events always been fully discussed by every 
one who has had occasion to consider it, and I there- 
fore shall be pardoned for adding some facts in re- 
gard to it which came to my knowledge after this 
volume was in the press. It is well known that 
Hamilton was not fully satisfied with his position on 
Washington's staff, and that he desired to be appointed 
adjutant-general, that he was pressed for this post by 
Lafayette (" Memoirs and Correspondence of Lafay- 
ette," vol. i. p. 366), and by General Greene (Ham- 
ilton's " History of the Republic," vol. i. p. 141), and 
that Lafayette subsequently wrote to him in a way 
which showed that his resignation from the staff had 
been contemplated for some time. (" Memoirs and 
Correspondence of Lafayette," vol. i. p. 302.) 

I have been recently informed by a gentleman who 
is a most eminent historical authority, and who was a 
friend of the late Jared Sparks, that Mr. Sparks told 
bim of a conversation which he had with Lafayette 
»n this subject when the latter visited this country in 
v825. Lafayette told Mr. Sparks that Hamilton 
had pressed Washington for another position ; that 



298 APPENDIX. 

Washington had refused his request, as in the case ol 
the adjutant-generalship, and that they had had two or 
three disagreements growing out of this wish of Ham- 
ilton's before the final breach at N^w Windsor. This 
Btatement shows that there were causes for the quar- 
rel which did not appear on the surface, and that the 
separation was neither a new nor a sudden idea upon 
Hamilton's part at least. (See, also, Hamilton's let- 
ter to Schuyler, February 18, 1781, in the new edi- 
tion of Hamilton's Works, where it is now for the first 
time given in full.) 

NOTE C. 
Hamilton's argument in the Croswell case was re- 
ported and printed in a pamphlet which is occasion- 
ally to be met with, and has been reprinted in Moore's 
** American Eloquence." 



INDEX. 



i»AM8, John, elected Vlce-Presi- 
4ent, 83 ; publishes " Discourses 
on Davila," and is attacked by 
Jefferson, 142 ; Federalist candi- 
date for Presidency, 195 ; elected 
to the Presidency, 198 ; his party 
position and relations with Ham- 
ilton, 198-200 ; wishes another ef- 
fort for peace with France, 202 ; 
his selection of Commissioners, 
203, 204; conduct in affair of 
Major-Generals, 206, 207; sus- 
pects Hamilton of desire for mil- 
itary empire, 215 ; appointment of 
Murray, 217 ; enlarges the com- 
mission, 220; orders the envoys 
to go, 221 ; drives Pickering and 
McHenry from his Cabinet, 229 ; 
conduct toward, and treatment of 
Hamilton, 230, 231 ; again nomi- 
nated for the Presidency, 232 ; at- 
tacked by Hamilton, 233. 

/kdams, John Quincy, writes es- 
says signed " Publicola," 142. 

Adams, Samuel, 75. 

Andr6, Major, Hamilton's pity for 
and account of , 20. 

Annapolis, convention at, 55. 

Arnold, Mrs. Benedict, Hamilton's 
interview with and account of, 
20. 

Asia, British man-of-war, fires on 
New York, 101. 

Assumption of state debts, excite- 
ment about, 120 ; opposition to, 
121, 122 ; defeated, 123 ; carried 
finally, 129. 

Bachb, B. F., supports Genet, 170. 

Bancroft, George, doubts as to da*e 
of Hamilton's birth, 285 ff. 

Benson, Egbert, Hamilton's col- 
league at Annapolis, 55. 

^wdoin, James, puts down Shays' 
rebellion ; efforts for a better 
cjOTenunent, 53. 



Burr, Aaron, his alliance with tb« 
Livingstons, 82 ; opinion of Ham- 
ilton as a writer, 191, 276 ; suc- 
cess as a ward politician, 226 ; de- 
feats Hamilton^ 227 ; obtains a 
copy of Hamilton's pamphlet 
against Adams, 233 ; intrigue for 
Presidency, 235; defeated by 
Hamilton in intrigues with Fed- 
eralists, 246 ; forces quarrel on 
Hamilton ; character of, 247 ; pre- 
pares for the duel, 249 ; kills 
Hamilton, 250. 

" CAMiiius," Essays of, 191. 

Carrington, Col. Edward, letter to 
Hamilton in 1793, 254. 

•' Christian Constitutional Society," 
Hamilton's plan for, 267. 

Clinton, George, strength as a local 
leader, 52 ; resists demands of 
Congress, 56; leader against Con- 
stitution, 66; presides at State 
Convention, /I; defeats Hamil- 
ton for Congress, 80 ; defeats 
Yates for governorship, 81. 

Coinage, question of device for, 
130. 

Confederacy, condition of in 1786, 
50-52. 

Congress, condition of in 1782, 36 ; 
influenced by Luzerne, 88 ; rec- 
ommends grant to States, 40 ; 
threatened by mutineers ; thanks 
^Vashington, 42 ; eagerness to re- 
fer matters to Hamilton, 85 ; re- 
solves to fund foreign debt, 117 ; 
effort in, for discrimination in do- 
mestic debt, 118 ; adopts Hamil • 
ton's plan for funding domentij 
debt and arrears of interest, 120 • 
defeats assumption, 123; debat* 
in, as to device on coins, 130 ; at- 
tack in, on foreign relations, 174. 

Cooper, Dr., saved from mob h) 
Hamilton. 10. U. 



800 



INDEX. 



Croswell, Henry, prosecution of for 

libel, 239, 241. 
Croucher, cross-examination of, in 

murder trial, 242; subsequent 

fate, 243, and note. 

Datton, Jonathan, Hamilton's let- 
ter to, 224. 

"Democratic Societies " broken up 
by Washington's message, 185. 

Duane, James, Hamilton's letter to, 
on government, 28. 

Bnoland, treaty with, in 1782, 38 ; 
refuses to carry out treaty on ac- 
count of non-payment of British 
debts, 48; relations with the 
United States in 1789, and subse- 
quently, 155; effect of financial 
policy upon, 158 ; war with 
France, 161; stupid aggressions 
on our commerce, 174, 176 ; re- 
newed during excitement over Jay 
treaty, 192 ; again renewed when 
United States on verge of war 
with France, 219. 

Ilicise, Hamilton's plan for, 96-99 ; 
resistance to, 181 ff. 

Faucette, Mr., Hamilton's maternal 
grandfather, 294. 

Fauchet, M., arrives as minister 
from France, 179. 

' Federalist, The," value of, 68; 
literary merits of, 69. 

Federalists carry through funding 
of domestic debt, 120 ; views as to 
forms and titles ; carry national 
bank, 131 ; development of as a 
party, 136 ; defeat Giles's resolu- 
tions of censure, 150; foreign pol- 
icy of, while in power, 163 ; vigor- 
ous measures against England, 
177 ; a few come forward at once 
4o sustain Jay treaty, 190 ; possi- 
ble candidates of, for Presidency 
in 1796, 194 : enthusiasm against 
France, 205; strong measures 
against France ; popular support, 
206; feeling of, in regard to ap- 
pointment of Major-Generals, 207 ; 
effect of appointment of second 
peace commission upon, 218 ; an- 
ger against President ; held in 
check by Hamilton, 220 ; results 
•^f their foreign policy, 221 ; re- 
sults of their political supremacy, 
222 ; give general support to alien 
fend sedition laws, 223 ; dissen- 
tions amonj^ 225 ; defeated in 



Presidential election; intrigues 
with Burr, 235 ; secession move- 
ment among, in New England 
246; devotion of, to Hamilton, 
278. 

"Fenno's Gazette," organ of Fed 
eralists, 143. 

Fleming, Major, commands volun 
teer corps joined by Hamilton 
10. 

France, attitude towards the Con 
federacy, 51 ; relations witi 
United States in 1789, and subs» 
quently, 155; public opinion is 
United States as to revolution in, 
159, 160 ; war with England, 161 
treatment of first peace commis 
siou, 205 ; second mission to, 217 . 

Freneau, Philip, becomes editor ol 
the" National Gazette," 143 ; at- 
tacked by Hamilton, 145 ; sup- 
ports Genet, 170. 

Gallatin, Albert, deserted in Con- 
gress on publication of X. Y. Z. 
letters, 205. 

Gates, Horatio, character; attitude 
after surrender of Burgoyne; 
Hamilton's mission to, 18, 19. 

(Jenet, Edmond Charles, arrival of, 
165 ; his character ; fits out priva- 
teers ; journey to Philadelphia, 
167; sends out the "Little Sa- 
rah ; " strives for money for 
France, 169 ; excites agitation in 
United States, 170 ; becomes more 
violent, 171 ; appeals to people 
against Washington, 172 ; replaced 
by Fauchet, 179. 

Gerry, Elbridge, peace commis- 
sioner to France, 203. 

Giles, William B., heads attack on 
Hamilton in Congress, 148 ; intro- 
duces resolutions of censure, and 
is defeated, 150 ; discomfited by 
X. Y. Z. letters, 205. 

Greene, Nathanael, likes Hamilton, 
and introduces him to Washing- 
ton, 13. 

Hamilton, Alexander, birth, 1 ; edu- 
cation ; business, 2 ; vrrites an ac- 
count of hurricane ; leaves West 
Indies for Boston ar-d New Yort 
3; school and college, 4, 6; es- 
pouses the cause of the Colonie* 
6; speaks to the people at th« 
meeting in the field, 7; wrlt« 
two pamphlets on colonial side 
8 ; their success ; declines ofieii 



INDEX. 



801 



bom Tories, 9; joins volunteer 
eorpa ; resists patriot mobs, 10, 
11 ; rsiises and takes command of 
•n artillery company, 12 ; meets 
Greene and Washington ; covers 
retreat at Long island, 13 ; on the 
Hudson and in New Jersey ; be- 
comes a member of Washington's 
staff, 14 ; his views as to his new 
position; his duties as an aide, 
15 ; his share in Washington's 
military correspondence, 16, 17 ; 
merits of his work as secretary ; 
sent North for reenforcements, 
18 ; mission to Gates, 19 ; sent to 
meet French at Newport ; meet- 
ing with Mrs. Arnold and with 
Andr6, 20 ; quarrels with Wash- 
ington, 21, 22; leaves Washing- 
ton's staff; storms British re- 
doubt at York town, 23 ; leaves 
the army, 24 ; his friendships in 
the army, and with the French 
officers, 25 ; his character as a 
soldier, 26 ; letter to Robert Mor- 
ris on the currency and a bank, 
27 ; letter to Duane on the gov- 
ernment, 28 ; to Sears on govern- 
ment, 29 ; second letter to Morris, 
30 ; marriage with Miss Schuyler, 
32; studies law, 33; declines to 
be commissioner of French loan, 
34; appointed receiver of taxes 
for New York ; his services in that 
capacity, 35 ; elected to Congress, 
36 ; energy of his efforts for im- 
provement, 37 ; course as to treaty 
of peace, 38 ; efforts to obtain an 
impost from Rhode Island, 39 ; 
opposes the policy of recommend- 
ing a grant, 40 ; efforts in behalf 
of the army, 41, 42 ; urges mak- 
ing debates public ; withdraws 
from Congress, 43 ; his standing 
and effect in Congress, 44 ; effect 
of Congress upon the conserva- 
tive tendencies of his mind, 45; 
beginning of his distrust of de- 
mocracy, 46 ; defends loyalist cli- 
ent against Trespass Act, 47 ; ad- 
vocates justice to loyalists in 
pamphlets, 48 ; opposes land bank 
Bchemti ; aids in foundation of 
Cincinnati, 49 ; exertions for rep- 
resentation at Annapolis, 54 ; ser- 
vices at Annapolis ; drafts ad- 
drees, 56 ; elected to the legis- 
Uture ; defeated by Clinton it 
•fforts to sustain Congress, 56 ; ] 
»b tains tepresectation at consti- ( 



tutlonal convention in Philadel- 
phia, and is chosen a delegate 
57 ; in the Philadelphia conven- 
tion, 58 ; his speech, 59 ; his plan 
of government, 60 ; its leading 
features, 61 ; object of his speech, 
62 ; withdraws from debates, and 
awaits result of convention, 63; 
gives his adhesion to the consti- 
tution, 64 ; begins the " Federal- 
ist," 66 ; share in writing " Feder- 
alist," 67 ; as a literary man, 70; 
services in state convention of 
New York, 71 ; again elected to 
Congress, (3 ; his eloquence and 
his victory in the New York Con- 
vention, 74-77; character of hia 
eloquence, 77-80 ; defeated for re- 
election to Congress, 80 ; sup- 
ports Yates for governor, SI ; in- 
sists upon election of King as 
Senator, 82 ; appointed Secretary 
of the Treasury, 84 ; enters upon 
his duties, 85 ; numerous matters 
referred to him, 86 ; organization 
of Treasury Department, 87 ; the 
first report on the public credit, 
88 ; objects of the report, 89-91 ; 
plans for funding, 92 ; the differ- 
ent classes of debts, 94 ; report 
on the excise, 96 ; report on the 
national bank, 99 ; argument in 
favor of constitutionality of na- 
tional bank, 104 ; supports the 
doctrine of the implied powers ol 
the constitution, 105 ; report on 
the mint, 106 ; monetary stand- 
ard, 107 ; coinage, 108 ; report on 
manufactures, 108, 132 ; hia opin- 
ions on protection and free trade, 
109-114 ; character of the finan- 
cial policy, 115 ; argument against 
discrimination, 119 ; forces relied 
on to carry assumption, 122 ; de- 
termines to save assumption by 
giviug up site of federal city, 
123 ; selects Jefferson to help 
him, 125 ; arrangement with Jef- 
ferson, 127 ; absurdity of charge 
that he duped Jefferson, 128 ; car- 
ries assumption, 129 ; suggestion 
for device on coins, 130; carries 
national bank, 131, 132; treat- 
ment of speculation, 133 : mistake 
as to rate of interest, 133, I'^l , 
completion of the financial policy 
135; comes as leader to FeJeral- 
ishs, 136 ; development of hostilitj 
to him and Federalists, 13" ; istA- 
tacked by oppoaition, and call-M 



302 



INDEX. 



•' BritiBh,-' 138 ; power attributed 
to, by opposition, 139 ; dissension 
begins in the cabinet, 140 ; con- 
cludes that Jefferson and Madi- 
son are organizing party against 
him, 143; replies to criticism of 
Mason, 144 ; attacks Freneau and 
Jefferson, 145; replies to Wash- 
ington's remonstrance, 147; meas- 
ures for redemption of debt, 148 ; 
attack upon him in Congress, 149 ; 
his defence, 150 ; effects of his vic- 
tory, 151, 152 ; his policy as to first 
(Steps to establish proper foreign 
relations, 155; his views as to for- 
eign policy, 156 ; as to different 
nations, 157 ; effect of financial 
policy on England, 157 ; takes 
part in negotiations with Ham- 
mond, 158; loses sympa'thy with 
French revolution, 160 ; sends for 
Washington on news of war be- 
tween England and France ; feel- 
ing as to the two countries, 161 ; 
opinion as to policy of United 
States as between belligerents, 

162 ; share in neutrality policy, 

163 ; views as to reception of min- 
ister, and as to treaties, 164-166 ; 
views as to French privateers and 
prizes, 167, 168 ; urges strong 
measures in case of the Little 
Sarah, 168 ; rebuffs Genet in at- 
tempts to anticipate payments, 
169, 170 ; writes " Pacificus," in 
support of neutrality policy, 171 ; 
urges peremptory demand for re- 
call of Genet, and publication of 
correspondence, 172 ; course in 
these complications, 173 ; opposes 
sending to Congress correspond- 
ence with Hammond, 175 ; replies 
to Madison on discriminating du- 
*.ies through Smith, 176 ; urges 
vigorou-s policy against England, 
176 ; suggests special mission to 
England, and is urged as commis- 
sioner, 1/7; drafts Jay's instruc- 
tions, 178 ; fitness of, for mission, 
179 ; distrust of democracy in- 
creased by troubles with France, 
180 ; deals with resistance to ex- 
cise, 181 ; wishes to take strong 
measures, 182 ; efficiency in sup- 
pression of insurrection, 183 ; for- 
bearance toward insurgents, 184 ; 
sustains Washington in denunci- 
ation of " Democratic Societies," 
185; demands further inquiry 
Into hit oondaot : leaves the cabi- 



net, 186 ; opinion as to publl* 
feeling about Jay's nei^otiation 
188 ; reported opinion as to treaty. 
189 ; attempts to speak at public 
meeting in defence of the treaty 
190 ; writes " Camillus " in de- 
fence of the treaty, 191; indig- 
nant with England, 192 ; advise* 
with and sustains Washington a? 
to ratification of Jay treaty, 193 ; 
qualifications for candidacy for 
Presidency, 194 ; has no desire to 
be a candidate, 195 ; urges policy 
of voting equally for Adams and 
Pinckney, 196; preference for 
Pinckney, 197; relations with 
Adams, 198 ; opinion of Adams, 
199 ; Hamilton easy to deal with, 
200 ; attempt to force Adams 
through cabinet and leaders in 
Congress, 201 ; urges special mis- 
sion to France , 202 ; views as to 
composition of peace commission, 

203 ; wishes strong instructions, 

204 ; affair of the Major-Generals, 
206, 207; his conduct, 208; or- 
ganization of the army, 209 ; ad- 
vises Secretaries of War, Navy, 
and Treasury, 2]0; excellence of 
his work of organization, 211 ; 
plan for campaign, and views as 
to control of Mississippi and con- 
quest of Louisiana, 212, 213 ; de- 
sires an ascendant for the United 
States in North and South Amer- 
ica, 214 ; relations with Miranda, 
215, 216 ; does not wish alliance 
with England, 218 ; his theory of 
policy to be pursued at this time, 
219 ; checks extreme Federalists, 
and advises strengthening of the 
commission, 220 ; urges delay 
upon Adams, 221 ; opposes first 
drafts of alien and sedition laws, 
223 ; but sustains their principle, 
and urges a spirited policy, 224 ; 
hostility to Kentu-ky and Vir- 
ginia resolutions, 225 ; throws 
himself into New York elections, 
226 ; defeated by Burr ; proposi- 
tion to Jay, 227 ; nature of this 
proposition, and its bad charac- 
ter, 228 ; inquiries of Adams as tn 
charge of " British Faction," 230 ; 
urges an equal vote for Adam? 
and Charles Pinckney ; preference 
for the latter, 232 ; attacks Adams, 
233 ; relations with Adams's cab- 
inet, 284 ; resistance to Burr, and 
in efforts of FedeTftlists u> mak( 



INDEX. 



303 



BiLT President, 236; absorption 
in his profession, and increased 
success, 237: position as a law- 
yer, 238 ; the Croswell case, 239- 
241 ; the murder trial and cross- 
examination of Croucher, 242; 
effectiveness with a jury, 243 ; 
character of his eloquence, 244 ; 
gradual withdrawal from politics, 
but continues the leader of the 
Federalists, 245 ; baffles Burr's in- 
trigues with the Federalists, 246 ; 
accepts Burr's challenge, 247 ; re- 
lations with Burr under the 
" code," 248 ; generosity to Burr ; 
prepares for the duel, 249 ; mor- 
tally wounded ; death, 250 ; state- 
ment of reasons against fighting, 
261 ; opinions which led him to 
believe it necessary to fight, 252 ; 
fears about results of French rev- 
olution in 1789, 253 ; inquiries as 
to public sentiment in Virginia, 
254 ; belief in existence of dan- 
gerous elements in the United 
States, 255 ; grounds of opposition 
to French revolution, 266 ; fears 
outbreaks in New York, 257 ; na- 
tional spirit in foreign policy, 
2^, 259 ; opposed to hapty alli- 
anoe with England; refuses ap- 
pointment to the Senate, 260; 
danger of French influence, 261 ; 
dislike of geographical parties, 
262 ; reliance on the army ; ad- 
vises energetic policy in 1799, 
5163 ; wishes to prosecute a news- 
paper for libel, 264 ; despond- 
ency ; letter to Morris, 265 ; pol- 
icy for Federalists in 1802, 266; 
plan for a " Christian Constitu- 
tional Society," 267,268; appeal 
to New England Federalists 
against secession, 269 ; nature of 
the crisis which he apprehended, 
270 ; a victim to reaction against 
French revolutionary principles, 
271 ; personal appearance, 272, 
273 ; beloved in private life ; gen- 
erosity, 274; self-confidence; let- 
ter to the Senate, 275 ; strength of 
his passions ; opinion of his abili- 
ties held by his opponents, 276; 
devotion of his party ; lack of 
tkill in managing men, 278 ; in- 
dependence and courage; Rey- 
Dolds pamphle*;, 279* nature of 
LiH ambition, 280 ; Ais achieve- 
Sients ; representative of \i ^as , 
«;9poaition to democracy, ''.81 ; in- 



tensity of fiis national feeling, 
282; influence upon our history 
and institutions, 283 ; his position 
in history, 284; question as to 
birth and parentage, 28^297 , 
leaving Washington's staff not a 
sudden idea, 297. 

Hamilton, James, brother ot Alex- 
ander, 288. 

Hamilton, John C, account of hii 
father's birth and parentage 
294 ff. 

Hammond, George, arrives as min 
ister from England, 168. 

Hancock, John, strength as a local 
leader, 62 ; resignation of gov- 
emorship, 53 ; at convention, 75. 

Higginson, Stephen, unites with 
Hamilton in opposing policy oi 
recommending grants, 40. 

Impued powers of the Constitution 
Hamilton's defence of, 105. 

Jay, John, assists Hamilton in writ- 
ing "Federalist," 67; support! 
Hamilton in state convention, 71 ; 
sent as special commw^ioner to 
England, 178; popular demon- 
strations against his appointment, 
188 ; popular feeling against hia 
treaty, 189 ; his treaty ratified, 
193; candidacy for Presidency, 
194, 196; refuses to accede to 
Hamilton's proposition. 227. 

Jefferson, Thomas, arrival in Amer- 
ica, 125 ; uncertain as to course 
to adopt, 126 ; helps Hamilton tc 
carry assumption, 127 ; his ex- 
planation of the affair, 128; ar- 
gues against constitutionality oi 
national bank; plan of "allow- 
ances," 132 ; assumes leadership 
of opposition, 139, 140; secret 
hostilities against administration 
and building up of opposition, 
141; attacks John Adams, 142; 
founds " National Gazette,''' 143 ; 
insinuations to Washington, 143 
144; attacked by Hamilton, 145; 
feels the attacks keenly, 146 ; re- 
ply to Washington's remon 
strance, 147 ; plans attack on 
Hamilton's character, 148; dia- 
appointment at his failure, 152; 
failure to obtain commercial trea- 
ty when in France, 155 ; love foi 
France and hatred of England 
161 , (ie'^ires close connection witlj 
France, 166 ; opposw (MKmpcilM- 



B04 



INDEX. 



tion for Jrench prizes. 168 ; fee- 
bleness in case of the Little 
Sarah, 169 ; intercourse with 
Genet, 171-174 ; objects to appeal 
to people, 172 ; course in troubles 
with Genet, 173; defeated as to 
calliDg Congress, 174 ; correspond- 
ence with Genet and Hammond 
and report on commerce; leayes 
cabinet, 176 ; opposes proclama- 
tion against excise, 182 ; disturbed 
by essay* of " Camillus," 191 ; 
elected Vice-President, 19 < ; over- 
whelmed by publication of X. Y. 
Z. letters, 205 ; draws Kentucky 
resolutions, 225; determines on 
ruin of Burr, 246 ; opinion as to 
liamilton's abilities, 276 ; skill in 
managing men, 278 ; ideas repre- 
sented by, 283. 

K-ENT, James, description of Hamil- 
ton in the Croswell case, 240 ; 
opinion as to Hamilton's abili- 
ties, 277. 

Kentucky, resolutions of, in 1799, 
225. 

King, Rufus, chosen Senator from 
New York, 82 ; consulted by Ham- 
ilton as to Miranda, 216. 

Knox, Henry , urges strong measures 
in case of the Little Sarah, 168 ; 
conduct in affair of Major-Gen- 
erals, 207. 

Knox, Hugh Dr., friend and adviser 
of Hamilton, 3. 

La Fatette, Marquis de, account 
of Hamilton's leaving Washing- 
ton's staff, 297. 

uansing, John, Jr., chosen delegate 
to Philadelphia Convention, 57 ; 
leaves Philadelphia Convention, 
63 ; opposes constitution in state 
convention, 71. 

Laurens, John, Colonel, admiration 
of Hamilton's writings, 17 ; Ham- 
ilton withdraws in his favor for 
commissionership of French loan, 
34. 

Lewis, Morgan, opposes election of 
King as Senator, 82 ; decision in 
Croswell case, 239, 240 ; elected 
Governor of New York, 246. 

little Sarah, case of the, 168. 

Livingston, Robert R., plan for a 
land bank, 49 ; supports Hamil- 
ton in state convention, 71. | 

Uviugstons, their opposition to the i 
olootion of King as Senator, 82. I 



Long Islind, Hamilton at battlA of 

13. 
Lyttcc, Peter, Hamilton's unole^ 

294. 

Madison, James, his standing io 
Congress in 1782, 36 ; assists no 
writing "Federalist," 67; advo- 
cates discrimination in domestic 
debt ; begins to separate from 
Federalists, 119; argues against 
constitutionality of national 
bank ; plan of allowances, 132 ; 
helps Jefferson organize oppoa? 
tion, 143 ; plans attack on Hamil- 
ton, 148 ; votes for resolutions ol 
censure, 150 ; resolutions for dis- 
criminating duties, 175 ; resisti 
.-election of Hamilton for Englieh 
mission, 178 ; unwilling to vrrit* 
against Hamilton, 191. 

Manufactures, Hamilton's report 
on, 108-114. 

Marshall, John, opinion as to con- 
stitutionality of national bank 
104 ; peace commissioner to 
France, 203 ; return from France 
205 ; sustains Adams, 225 ; rank! 
Hamilton next to Washington 
284. 

Maryland, convention with Vir 
ginia, 54. 

Mason, Colonel, his criticism on 
Washington's administration, 143. 

Massachusetts, movement in for a 
better general government, 53; 
constitutional convention in, 75. 

McIIenry, James, his account of 
Hamilton in Congress, 43 ; leans 
on Hamilton for advice in French 
war, 210. 

Mint, Hamilton's report on the, 
106. 

Miranda, Francisco de, plans for 
revolution in South America, 214 ; 
relations with Hamilton, 215, 216 

Mitchell Mrs., aunt of Hamilton, 
289, 292, 294. 

" Monroe Doctrine," established by 
Washington's administration, 153, 
163. 

Monroe, James, opposes selection of 
Hamilton for mission to England, 
178 ; career in France, 201 ; con- 
nection with the " Reynolds " al- 
fair, 279. 

Morris, Oouvemeur, opinion cl 
Hamilton's speech in Philadev 
phia convention, 59 ; warns UsjOk 
ilton of difficulties of Tra&suxj 



INDEX. 



305 



I>epartm«iit, &4' opinion as to 
importance of finance, 116. 

Morris, Robert, Hamilton's letter 
oa currency to, 27 ; Hamilton's 
second letter to, on bank, 30 ; ap- 
points Hamilton receiver of taxes 
for New York, 35 ; urges Hamil- 
ton for Secretary of Treasury, 84. 

Murray, William Vans, peace com- 
missioner to France, 217. 

National Bank, Hamilton's report 
on, 99 ; Hamilton's argument in 
favor of its constitutionality , 104 ; 
carried, 131 ; struggle over, in 
cabinet, 132. 

" National Gazette," founded and 
attacks administration, 143. 

Newburgh, condition of army at, 
and addresses from, 41. 

New Jersey, gives general powers to 
Annapolis delegates, 55. 

New Windsor, Hamilton's quarrel 
with Washington at, 21. 

New York, feeling in, against the 
Tories, 46 : selfishness of, in re- 
gard to general government, 64 ; 
importance of adhesion of, to Con- 
stitution, 65 ; party feeling in, as 
to constitution, 66 ; state con- 
vention of, 71 ; difficulties of car- 
rying constitution in, 74, 75 ; 
unrepresented in first electoral 
college and Congress, 81 ; efforts 
of Burr to get control of, 246. 

Nicholas, John, amendment for hos- 
tile discrimination against Eng- 
land, 176. 

North Carolina, opposition of, to 
constitution, 76 ; resistance to ex- 
cise, 181 ; ceases, 182. 

" Pacipicus," essays of, 171. 

Pennsylvania, fails to protect Con- 
gress against mutineers, 42 ; re- 
sistance to excise, 181 ; becomes 
more violent, 182 ; lost to Feder- 
alists, 226. 

\ hiladelphia, constitutional con- 
vention at, in 1787, 67, 58. 

Pinckney, Charles Cotesworth, min- 
ister to France, refused a recep- 
tion, 201 ; peace commissioner to 
France, 203 ; conduct in affair of 
Majoi-Generals, 207 ; nominated 
tor Vice-Presidency, 232; conduct 
at Presidential election, 235. 

*inckney, Thomas, qualifications 
ior candidacy for Presidency, 194 ; 
redtff&Iist candidate for Vice- 



Presidency, 195, 196 ; lefeated (oi 
Vice-Presidency, 197. 

Pickering, Timothy, leader of mosi 
extreme war-Federalists, 202 ; at* 
tacks upon Adams ; driven from 
cabinet, 229; memoranda as.t« 
Hamilton's parentage, 289. 

" Publius," essays of, 66. 

Putnam, Israel, General, harried 
forward with his troops by Ilasu 
ilton, 19. 

Randolph, Edmund, at AnnapoUi 
convention, 65 ; argues against 
constitutionality of bank, 132. 

Republicans, name assumed by op- 
position, 141. 

Reynolds, Mrs., affair of, 279. 

Rivington, printer, destruction of 
his press, 11. 

Rhode Island, refuses to grant im- 
post, 39 ; refuses to call constitu- 
tional convention, 76. 

Schuyler, Miss Elizabeth, receives 
from Hamilton an account ol 
Mrs. Arnold and of Andr6, 20 j 
marries Hamilton, 32. 

Schuyler, General Philip, position 
and character, 32 ; his offers to 
assist Hamilton, 33 ; elected Sen- 
ator from New York, 82. 

Sears, Isaac, Hamilton's letter to, 
on government, 29. 

Shays' rebellion in Massachusettt, 
53. 

Smith, Melancthon, heads opposi- 
tion to constitution in New York 
state convention, 71 ; convinced 
by Hamilton, 73. 

Smith, William, speech on discrimi- 
nating duties, 176. 

Smith, William, Colonel, Adams 
asks Hamilton's assistance for, 
230. 

Spain, attitude toward the confed- 
eracy, 51 ; relations with United 
States in 1789 and subsequently, 
155. 

Spencer, Ambrose, opinion of, as 
to Hamilton's abilities, 276. 

Stevens, Edward, Hamilton's lettei 
to, 2 ; resemblance to Hamilton, 
289 ff., 295. 

Talletkand, Chables Maukiob sk 
alarmed at attitude of United 
States and seeks peace, 217. 

Thurman, life of, saved by HaBxi^ 
ton 11. 



B06 



INDEX. 



"Traris'B mob," 11. 

Irenton and Princeton, Hamilton 
In campaign of, 14. 

Ironp, Bobert, helps Hamilton to 
save Dr. Cooper, 10 ; warns Ham- 
ilton of difficulties of Treasury 
Department, 84. 

rinTED States, foreign relations of, 
163 ff . ; opinion as to French rev- 
olution at its opening, 159; change 
of opinion, 160 ; excitement in, 
caused by Genet, 170 ; excitement 
in, on reception of Jay's treaty, 
189 ; indignation in, on publica- 
tion of X. Y. Z. letters, 205 ; feel- 
ing in, on death of Hamilton, 
250. 

VmoiNiA, withdraws from impost, 
40 ; efforts for retaliation upon 
England, 53 ; convention with 
Maryland; resolutions for con- 
vention at Annapolis, 64 ; con- 
vention of, to adopt constitution, 
75 ; resistance to excise, 181 ; 
ceases, 182 ; resolutions of, in 
1799, 225. 

FTashington, city of, question of 
site for, 124 ; fixed on Potomac, 
129. 

W^ashington, Fort, Hamilton's offer 
to storm it, 14. 

IVashington, George, Hamilton pre- 
sented to him, 13 ; invites Ham- 
ilton to join his staff, 14 ; mili- 
tary correspondence, 16, 17 ; sends 
to Gates for troops, 18 ; approves 
Hamilton's conduct of mission to 
Gates, 20 ; treatment of Hamilton 
when the latter quarrels with 
him, 21 ; and subsequently, 22-; 
and at Yorktown, 23; efforts in 
behalf of the army ; checks 
movement against government at 
Newburgh, 41 ; influence in Vir- 
ginia, 76; elected President, 83; 
decision as to national bank, 132 ; 
Bfcid to have been blinded by 
Haaulton, 139: submits Mason's 



criticism to Hamilton, 144 ; troub- 
led by Hamilton's attack npoa 
Jefferson, and remonstrates with 
both, 14 < ; his foreign policy 
163, 154; loses sympathy with 
French revolution, 160 ; neutral- 
ity policy, 163; adopts Hamilton's 
opinions as to French prizes and 
privateers, 168 ; indignation at 
escape of the Little Sarah, 169; 
sympathizes with Hamilton about 
Genet, 173 ; transmits to Congress 
Hammond correspondence, 175; 
approves plan of special mission 
to England, 177 ; wishes to send 
Hamilton but appoints Jay, 178 ; 
issues proclamation against ex- 
cise, 182 ; puts down " whiskey re- 
bellion," 183 ; denounces " Demo- 
cratic Societies," 185 ; composure 
in midst of excitement about 
Jay treaty, 190, 192 ; ratifies the 
treaty, 193 ; withdraws from poli- 
tics, 194 ; relations with Hamil- 
ton, 200; appointed commander- 
in-chief of provisional army ; 
opinion as to rank of officers, 006 ; 
forces Adams to give Hamilton 
the first place, 208. 

Webster, Daniel, compared to Ham- 
ilton, 277. 

West Point, betrayal of, 20 ; ques- 
tion of purchase of, referred to 
Hamilton, 86 ; Hamilton's plan 
for an academy, 210. 

" Whiskey rebellion," the, 181 ff. 

White Plains, Hamilton at battle 
of, 14. 

" X. Y. Z." correspondence sent to 
Congress, 204. 

Yard, James, account of Hamil- 
ton's birth and parentage, 289 ff 

Yates, Chief Justice, chosen dele- 
gate to Philadelphia convention 
67 ; leaves Philadelphia conven- 
tion, 63; opposes constitution Id 
state convention, 71 ; nominated 
for governor by Federalists, 81 

Yorktown, Uamikon at siege of, 23 



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